Corporate Governance in the Hospitality and Tourism Industry: Theoretical Foundations and Future Research

Although the importance of effective corporate governance for firm performance is recognized by scholars across hospitality and tourism (HT) as well as finance and general management fields, there seem to be several gaps, mixed findings, and conflicting results. To facilitate scholarly advancement, identify gaps in the current knowledge base, make suggestions for theory development, and provide direction for future research, we undertake a systematic review of research on corporate governance in the HT literature. Based on 120 peer-reviewed articles published since 1961, we identify 21 themes explored by scholars, and find that topics related to institutional ownership, determinants of executive compensation, board size, and merger and acquisition outcomes are commonly examined, whereas topics related to family ownership, debt, and regulation/law are seldom explored. Our comprehensive review contributes to the literature by synthesizing current knowledge and offering suggestions to scholars to extend corporate governance literature published in the HT field.