Owners with Helping Hand Governance Tend to Manage Their Multi-Owned Buildings Better—A Hong Kong Case Based on fsQCA

Board governance profoundly influences corporate management performance, yet its role in owners’ corporations (OCs) managing multi-owned buildings (MOBs) remains under-researched. A previous single-case interpretative study suggested that a “helping hand” (HH) governance approach leads to better MOB management, but the generalizability of these qualitative findings remained untested. This study extends that work by developing a configurational model of OC governance patterns and testing it using fuzzy-set Qualitative Comparative Analysis (fsQCA). Data were collected through structured questionnaires completed by chairpersons of 29 OCs (76.3% response rate) managing Tenants Purchase Scheme (TPS) estates in Hong Kong, while outcome measures of OC performance were derived from a prior survey of 1930 owners. The fsQCA results show that OCs adopting HH governance at both the management and operational levels consistently achieve better performance. Furthermore, better-performing OCs maintain an HH style even when their governance focus shifts occasionally or when operational help is temporarily absent. A key finding is that owners welcome government officials sharing their management experience but are indifferent or opposed to direct monitoring. Practical implications include the need for policymakers to promote HH governance, facilitate experience-sharing rather than monitoring, and design training that helps OCs balance vested and general interests. This study makes three independent contributions: (1) testing the generalizability of prior qualitative findings using fsQCA; (2) developing and testing a configurational model of OC governance patterns; and (3) providing the first quantitative evidence on governance “hand” types and management performance within the Tenants Purchase Scheme (TPS) context.