These proceedings represent the work of researchers participating in the 5th International Conference on Management Leadership and Governance (ICMLG 2017) which is being hosted this year by the Wits Business School, University of Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa on 16-17 March 2017. ICMLG is a recognised event on the international research conferences calendar and provides a valuable platform for individuals to present their research findings, display their work in progress and discuss conceptual and empirical advances in the areas of management, leadership and governance. It provides an important opportunity for researchers and practitioners to come together to share their experiences of researching in this varied and expanding field. The conference this year will be opened with a keynote presentation by Mervin King, a Senior Counsel and former Judge of the Supreme Court of South Africa who will address the topic Corporate Governance in South Africa: The Purpose of King 4. The second day of the conference will be opened by Adam Habib, Vice-Chancellor and Principal of the University of the Witwatersrand who will be talking about Management of Higher Learning Institutions in Emerging Markets. With an initial submission of 179 abstracts, after the double blind, peer-review process there are 66 academic Research papers, 8 PhD Research, 4 Masters Research and 3 Work in Progress papers published in these Conference Proceedings. These papers represent truly global research in the field, with contributions from Australia, Austria, Botswana, Czech Republic, Finland, Ghana, Iran, Japan, Kazakhstan, Lebanon, Lesotho, Mozambique, The Netherlands, Nigeria, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Slovakia, South Africa, Syria, Thailand, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom and United States of America.