Ownership structure, board characteristics and dividend policy: evidence from Turkey

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ajab Khan

Purpose This study aims to investigate the impact of ownership structure and board characteristics on dividend policy in the listed Turkish firms between 2013 and 2019. Design/methodology/approach This study uses the probability of paying dividends, dividend payout ratio and dividend yield measures. The suitable regression procedures (logit, probit and Tobit models) are used to examine the research hypotheses by focusing on a panel data set drawn from the Borsa Istanbul (BIST) 100 index, excluding financial and utility firms. Findings The empirical findings indicate that institutional and concentrated ownerships are significant and positively associated with dividend payouts, whereas family ownership does not influence dividend policy. On the other end, board size is positive, while chief executive officer duality is negatively related to dividend policy. Additionally, the female directors and board independence are insignificant in influencing firms to pay high dividends. Research limitations/implications Future researchers can validate this paper’s findings by considering the stock dividends as well. Additionally, future researchers may investigate the relationship between these constructs by extending the sample size of firms listed on BIST or in other emerging markets. Practical implications This study’s findings may serve policymakers, regulators, investors and academic researchers to get valuable guidance from relevant literature. The Turkish firms may improve dividend policy by implementing the regulatory framework introduced by the Capital Markets Law in 2012 for effective monitoring and protecting the minority shareholders’ rights. The controlling shareholders may alleviate principal-principal conflicts by ensuring the independence of directors and increasing the number of female directors according to the critical mass of at least 30% of board members. Originality/value This study contributes to agency theory and signaling theory by considering ownership structure and board attributes among Turkish firms related to dividend payments.

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Helmi A. Boshnak

PurposeThis study examines the impact of board composition and ownership structure variables on dividend payout policy in Saudi Arabian firms. In particular, it aims to determine the effect of board size, independence and meeting frequency, in addition to chief executive officer (CEO) duality, and state, institutional, managerial, family, and foreign ownership on both the propensity to pay dividends and dividend per share for Saudi-listed firms over the period 2016–2019.Design/methodology/approachThe paper captures dividend policy with two measures, propensity to pay dividends and dividend per share, and employs a range of regression methods (logistic, probit, ordinary least squares (OLS) and random effects regressions) along with a two-stage least squares (2SLS) model for robustness to account for heteroscedasticity, serial correlation and endogeneity issues. The data set is a large panel of 280 Saudi-listed firms over the period 2016 to 2019.FindingsThe results underline the importance of board composition and the ownership structure in explaining variations in dividend policy across Saudi firms. More specifically, there is a positive relationship between the propensity to pay dividends and board-meeting frequency, institutional ownership, firm profitability and firm age, while the degree of board independence, firm size and leverage exhibit a negative relation. Further, dividend per share is positively related to board meeting frequency, institutional ownership, foreign ownership, firm profitability and age, while it is negatively related to CEO duality, managerial ownership, and firm leverage. There is no evidence that family ownership exerts an impact on dividend payout policy in Saudi firms. The findings of this study support agency, signalling, substitute and outcome theories of dividend policy.Research limitations/implicationsThis study offers an important insight into the board characteristic and ownership structure drivers of dividend policy in the context of an emerging market. Moreover, the study has important implications for firms, managers, investors, policymakers, and regulators in Saudi Arabia.Originality/valueThis paper contributes to the existing literature by providing evidence on four board and five ownership characteristic drivers of dividend policy in Saudi Arabia as an emerging stock market, thereby improving on less comprehensive previous studies. The study recommends that investors consider board composition and ownership structure characteristics of firms as key drivers of dividend policy when making stock investment decisions to inform them about the propensity of investee firms to pay dividends and maintain a given dividend policy.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Tahar Tayachi ◽  
Ahmed Imran Hunjra ◽  
Kirsten Jones ◽  
Rashid Mehmood ◽  
Mamdouh Abdulaziz Saleh Al-Faryan

Purpose Ownership structure deals with internal corporate governance mechanism, which plays important role in minimizing conflict of interests between shareholders and management Ownership structure is an important mechanism that influences the value of firm, financing and dividend decisions. This paper aims to examine the impact of the ownership structures, i.e. managerial ownership, institutional ownership on financing and dividend policy. Design/methodology/approach The authors use panel data of manufacturing firms from both developed and developing countries, and the generalized method of moments (GMM) is applied to analyze the results. The authors collect the data from DataStream for the period of 2010 to 2019. Findings The authors find that managerial ownership and ownership concentration have significant and positive effects on debt financing, but they have significant and negative effects on dividend policy. Institutional ownership shows a positive impact on financing decisions and dividend policy for sample firms. Originality/value This study fills the gap by proving the policy implications for both firms and investors, as managers prefer debt financing, but at the same time try to ignore dividend payment. Therefore, investors may not invest in firms with a higher proportion of managerial ownership and may choose to invest more in institutional ownership, which lowers the agency cost.


2019 ◽  
Vol 27 (3) ◽  
pp. 303-323
Author(s):  
Andrew Glen Carrothers

Purpose This paper aims to examine the impact of public scrutiny on chief executive officer (CEO) compensation at Standard & Poor’s (S&P) 500 firms. Design/methodology/approach This paper uses the unique opportunity provided by the 2008 financial crisis and, in particular, government support and legislated compensation restrictions in the US Department of the Treasury’s Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP). It aggregates monetary and non-monetary executive compensation information from 2006 to 2012, with firm- and manager-level data. It presents univariate summary compensation results and uses multivariate regression analysis to isolate the impact of public scrutiny and legislated compensation restrictions on executive pay. Findings Overall, the results are consistent, with increased public scrutiny having a lasting impact on perks and temporary impact on wage and legislated compensation restrictions having a temporary impact on wage. Changes in specific perk items provide evidence on which perks firms perceive as excessive and which provide common value. Originality/value The paper contributes to the discussion of perks as excess by introducing a novel data set of perk compensation at S&P500 firms and by studying how firms choose to alter levels of specific perk items in response to increased public scrutiny and legislated compensation restrictions. The paper contributes to the literature on executive pay as there has been little inquiry into the impact of public scrutiny on compensation. Public scrutiny could be an important source of external governance if firms change behavior in response to explicit and implicit scrutiny costs.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Enrico Battisti ◽  
Niccolò Nirino ◽  
Michael Christofi ◽  
Demetris Vrontis

PurposeThe paper aims to empirically test the impact of intellectual capital (IC) on a firm's dividend policy. Further, the authors investigate the moderator effect of Chief Executive Officer's (CEO) characteristics (gender, age and education) on this relationship.Design/methodology/approachThe research was carried out on the main Chinese listed companies reported on the CSI 100 Index from 2016 to 2018. To assess the impact of IC on the dividend policy and then the moderating effect of the characteristics of the CEOs, the authors used a fixed effects panel data analysis.FindingsThe results suggest a positive impact of IC on dividend policies. In addition, this relationship is enhanced when the CEO is a woman, and the lower the age the higher the effect is.Originality/valueTo the best of the authors' knowledge, this is the first empirical study that explores the effect of IC on a firm's dividend policy in an emerging country. Specifically, this paper demonstrates the impact that IC has on the creation of shareholder value. Furthermore, considering the characteristics of the CEOs, this study tests new moderating effects in the relationship between IC and value creation and highlights how IC, dividends and CEO characteristics can be useful in aligning interests between ownership and management, enriching the debate on agency theory.


2018 ◽  
Vol 30 (1) ◽  
pp. 73-91
Author(s):  
Hassan Mohamed Abdalla Elhawary

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to answer the following questions: What are the theoretical and practical antecedents for recognising land under roads (LUR) as an asset in local government financial reports? Why was the process of regulating this aspect of accounting practice so protracted and so controversial? Design/methodology/approach The method used a critical analytical review and synthesis of relevant literature. Findings This study rejects the recognition of LUR, and suggests that the requirements to account for LUR should be withdrawn immediately. Regardless of the way that the debate has evolved as to the need or otherwise to value LUR or the methodology to be adopted, until the issue of a consistent, standards-based data set is addressed, there is unlikely to be a unified useful outcome. Research limitations/implications The study’s findings provided opportunity to reach an overall conclusion and make policy recommendations regarding the saga of accounting for LUR by Australian local governments. However, the ability to generalise beyond Australia to other countries would need to be tested by additional research. Practical implications The study’s findings provided assessment of the impact of valuing LUR on financial reporting by local governments and suggested policy recommendations. Social implications This study provided an understanding of Australian local governments’ accounting choices in regard to the valuation of LUR and documented the history of early adoption of valuation of LUR by local governments. Originality/value The literature on the public sector and accrual accounting is extensive and varied. However, there have been only isolated studies on the specific issue of LUR (Barton, 1999a, 1999b; Hoque, 2004; Rowles et al., 1998a, 1998b, 1998c, 1999). This study adds to the few isolated studies on the specific issue of accounting for LUR. Originality/value – This study provided policymakers with rich information about accounting for LUR and, it should have the capacity to impact on the future policy directions and recommendations.


2019 ◽  
Vol 19 (6) ◽  
pp. 1204-1215 ◽  
Author(s):  
Neeti Khetarpal Sanan

Purpose This study examined the impact of board size, independence and gender diversity on firm dividend payout. Furthermore, it examined whether the board characteristic–dividend payout relationship was moderated by free cash flows in the firm. Design/methodology/approach A total of 118 Indian firms representing multiple industries were examined for a period of four financial years from 2013 to 2016. The data are in panel form given the cross-sectional and time series nature of the study. Random effects specification was used for analysis Findings Results of the study indicated that the proportion of independent directors and proportion of female directors on the board have a negative and significant effect on dividend payout. In addition, the results showed a negative and significant moderating role of free cash flows, which implied that the magnitude of the impact of the proportion of independent directors and the proportion of female directors on the board on dividend payout is significantly greater in firms with high free cash flows. Overall, the results suggested that firms whose board characteristics signaled strong governance paid lower dividends. Originality/value This study contributes to a nuanced understanding of internal governance mechanisms by presenting evidence of the substitution hypothesis from an emerging economy, one in which firms operate within a unique regulatory framework of board composition.


2017 ◽  
Vol 18 (3) ◽  
pp. 274-297 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mili Mehdi ◽  
Jean-Michel Sahut ◽  
Frédéric Teulon

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to study the impact of the ownership structure and board governance on dividend policy in emerging markets. The authors test whether the effects of corporate governance on dividend policy change during crisis periods. Design/methodology/approach The authors use a panel regression approach on a sample of 362 non-financial listed firms from East Asian and Gulf Cooperation Council countries. Findings The results provide evidence that dividend payout decision increases with institutional ownership and board activity. The authors find that in emerging countries, dividend policy of firms with CEO duality and without CEO duality does not depend on the same set of factors. It is shown that the ownership concentration and board independency affect significantly the dividend policy of firms with COE duality. Finally, the results show that during the recent financial crisis, dividend decision is inversely related to CEO duality, board size and the frequency of board meetings. Research limitations/implications Other variables of corporate governance and ownership structure can be studied more in depth. The results can be directly compared to an alternative sample of developed countries. Practical implications This study is of particular interest for managers and shareholders when adjusting their strategies of dividend payout during financial crisis. Originality/value The authors employ a specific approach to investigate the impact of CEO duality on dividend policy in East Asian countries. An important aspect of the results is that that for firms with CEO who is also the chairperson, the dividend decision is negatively related to ownership concentration and board independence. This research contributes to the understanding of dividend policy by testing whether the impact of corporate governance on dividend policy changes during crisis periods in emerging countries. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this work is the first to directly address this issue from this perspective.


2017 ◽  
Vol 38 (2) ◽  
pp. 130-144 ◽  
Author(s):  
Annette van den Berg ◽  
Arjen van Witteloostuijn ◽  
Olivier Van der Brempt

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine whether works councils (WCs) in Belgium have a positive effect on firm performance, notably productivity and profitability, while taking the role of trade unions into account. Design/methodology/approach The authors first introduce the typical Belgian industrial relations system, discussing the similarities and differences with neighboring countries. This is followed by a brief overview of the relevant literature. Subsequently, the impact of Belgian employee representation on firm performance is estimated by means of OLS, using a newly developed questionnaire administered among Belgian CEOs. Special attention is given to moderating and mediating effects. Findings The authors find that Belgian WCs have a small (direct) significantly positive effect on labor productivity, but not on profitability. The additional results of the mediation test show tentatively that WCs might affect profitability indirectly, through their impact on productivity. Despite trade unions’ dominance in practice, the findings reveal that their impact is insignificant. Research limitations/implications Although nationwide, rich and representative, as well as statistically valid, the data set is rather small (196 usable observations). The data set offers ample opportunities to further explore what makes effective Belgian WCs different from their non-effective counterparts. Originality/value The data set is unique, and combines subjective CEO with objective performance data. The data offer the opportunity to do a first study into the special case of Belgium, which has a distinct union-dominated IR regime. In this study, the focus is furthermore on the rarely studied WC-trade union interaction. In addition, subtle moderation and mediation effects are estimated.


2018 ◽  
Vol 18 (4) ◽  
pp. 655-670 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ting-Ling Lin ◽  
Heng-Yih Liu ◽  
Chi-Jui Huang ◽  
Yu-Chiung Chen

Purpose This paper aims to examine the effect of ownership structure and board gender diversity on charitable donations for a group of listed electronics companies in Taiwan. Design/methodology/approach Using linear regression analysis, this paper analyses the ownership structure, board gender diversity and charitable donations of 380 Taiwanese electronics companies (2011-2013). Findings While domestic institutional investors, such as domestic mutual funds and corporate investors, take more of agency logic view, it negatively impacts on charitable donations. However, the empirical findings of this paper indicate that board gender diversity with the critical number of female directors was positively related to charitable donation. Thus, it is clear that female directors reaching critical numbers were taking more of a stakeholder view of institutional logic, emphasizing the balance of interests of internal and external stakeholders. Research limitations/implications This paper is limited to selected Taiwanese electronics companies over a two-year time frame, and charitable donations are the only proxy of corporate social responsibility (CSR) activity. The paper suggests that, as predicted by stakeholder theory and critical mass theory, companies with boards composed of at least three female directors make higher charitable donations. Practical implications This paper indicates that female directors on the board should have more voices on the board regarding the necessity and importance of CSR. Originality/value The paper contributes to existing literature by looking into the effects of ownership structure and board gender diversity on charitable donations.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ephraim Kwashie Thompson ◽  
Sylvester Adasi Manu

Purpose This paper aims to examine whether the characteristics of boards are more important in determining dividend policy than management characteristics. The authors show that as the final declarers of dividend policy is a firm’s board, the composition of a firm’s board significantly subsumes the effect of management characteristics that may also influence dividend policy. Design/methodology/approach Using the dividend declaration dummy variable, the authors run a fixed effect logistic regression of the dividend indicator on board characteristics, and managerial characteristics with firm level controls, year effects and industry effects while clustering standard errors at the firm level. For dividend yield variable which is censored at zero, they use a fixed effect Tobit regression. Findings The results of the study show that board characteristics such as average age, female presence and size have a strong positive significant effect, whereas board independent chair and voting right of directors have a negative significant effect on the likelihood of dividend declaration. For dividend yields, the results suggest that the presence of directors with financial expertise and the board size are the main influencers of dividend policy. Managerial characteristics are subsumed by director characteristics for determining dividend policy. The results overall support the evidence on the monitoring role of boards on management. Originality/value The originality and value of this study lies in the approach of including a comprehensive number of board characteristics unlike previous studies which makes the study of the influence of board composition on dividends more encompassing.


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