Exploring Perceptions of Possible Antecedents of Effective Corporate Governance within Eastern Cape Public Entities

Corporate governance is a system by which an organisation is directed or controlled; and governance practices are not standard across countries as a result of diverse legal structures and cultural settings adopted by different states. The Eastern Cape Public Entities (ECPEs) have an important role to play in pursuing the economic, social and developmental state agenda. The study’s main objective was to explore perceptions of possible antecedents of effective corporate governance within ECPEs. The EC province has ten (10) public entities with mandates and enabling legislations to enhance the sustainability issues. Eight (8) public entities participated in the study. Positivistic research paradigm was undertaken by the quantitative research method. Non-probability sampling was used. Primary data was collected using the survey method with structured self-administered questionnaires. The empirical results showed that ethical values, organisational culture and policy regulatory framework had a statistically significant impact on corporate governance of ECPEs; while employee morale, leadership, and role clarification were found not to have a statistically significant impact on corporate governance. The findings of this study are envisaged to assist in ensuring effective governance of public entities in order to encourage accountability, public confidence in the corporate system and to drive public policy.