Managing Business Records in Malaysia: awareness and attitudes among business managers

Abstract

The government of Malaysia is aware of the importance of record keeping in business as part of its effort to cultivate a well-informed society. Businesses are encouraged to manage their information in order to be competent and responsible. Within this environment, a research project was carried out to investigate whether businesses in Malaysia manage their records (as one part of their information resource). The project’s aim was to create an awareness of the importance to businesses of adopting records management programmes, given that Malaysia is moving toward an information society. The study used a survey approach, which employed a questionnaire for data collection, amongst business organizations listed on the Kuala Lumpur Stock Exchange, as the sample population. The findings showed that a records management programme is an uncommon practice in business in Malaysia. This is not surprising, given that records management is a relatively new discipline in information studies. It is hoped that this research will help to promote records management in Malaysian businesses and will allow further research in this field, especially in respect of the legal and regulatory requirements for record-keeping in Malaysia.