The impact of board composition and ownership structure on dividend payout policy: evidence from Saudi Arabia

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Helmi A. Boshnak
Keyword(s):  
Saudi Arabia ◽  
Ownership Structure ◽  
Dividend Policy ◽  
Payout Policy ◽  
Board Composition ◽  
Dividend Payout ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Listed Firms ◽  
Propensity To Pay ◽  
The Impact

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.

Does religion matter to dividend policy? Evidence from Buddhism and Taoism in China

2016 ◽  
Vol 7 (4) ◽  
pp. 510-541 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chunfang Cao ◽  
Fansheng Jia ◽  
Xiaowei Zhang ◽  
Kam C. Chan
Keyword(s):  
Dividend Policy ◽  
Ethical Guidelines ◽  
Dividend Payout ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Informal Institution ◽  
Listed Firms ◽  
Corporate Behavior ◽  
Unethical Practices ◽  
Multiple Regression Method ◽  
The Impact

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine the relation between Buddhism/Taoism and dividend payout decisions among Chinese listed firms during 2003-2013. Design/methodology/approach The authors include all Chinese A-share listed stocks in their sample during 2003-2013 and use a multiple regression method to conduct their analyses. Findings Their findings suggest that firms in regions with high influence of Buddhism and Taoism lean toward having high dividend payouts. The results are robust to a battery of alternative specifications in dividend payout, religiosity measures, research methods and dividend regulation regimes. Originality/value They show that the religions of Buddhism/Taoism play a role in determining dividend payout, complementing other informal institution studies of dividend policy. They complement the literature by providing insights into the impact of Buddhism and Taoism on corporate behaviors beyond immoral or unethical practices. They are able to relate specific doctrinal tenets of Buddhism and Taoism to corporate behavior rather than using only the general moral and ethical guidelines of religiosity.

scholarly journals The effect of ownership structure on dividend policy: evidence from Turkey

2016 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. 135-161 ◽  
Author(s):  
Basil Al-Najjar ◽  
Erhan Kilincarslan
Keyword(s):  
Family Involvement ◽  
Financial Institutions ◽  
Ownership Structure ◽  
Dividend Policy ◽  
Dividend Yield ◽  
Minority Shareholders ◽  
Foreign Investors ◽  
Dividend Payout ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Listed Firms

Purpose This paper aims to investigate the impact of ownership structure on dividend policy of listed firms in Turkey. Particularly, it attempts to uncover the effects of family involvement (through ownership and board representation), non-family blockholders (foreign investors, domestic financial institutions and the state) and minority shareholders on dividend decisions in the post-2003 period as it witnesses the major economic and structural reforms. Design/methodology/approach The paper uses alternative dividend policy measures (the probability of paying dividends, dividend payout ratio and dividend yield) and uses appropriate regression techniques (logit and tobit models) to test the research hypotheses, by focusing on a recent large panel dataset of 264 Istanbul Stock Exchange-listed firms (non-financial and non-utility) over a 10-year period 2003-2012. Findings The empirical results show that foreign and state ownership are associated with a less likelihood of paying dividends, while other ownership variables (family involvement, domestic financial institutions and minority shareholders) are insignificant in affecting the probability of paying dividends. However, all the ownership variables have a significantly negative impact on dividend payout ratio and dividend yield. Hence, the paper presents consistent evidence that increasing ownership of foreign investors and the state in general reduces the need for paying dividends in the Turkish market. Research limitations/implications Because of the absence of empirical research on how ownership structure may affect dividend policy and the data unavailability for earlier periods in Turkey, the paper cannot make comparison between the pre-and post-2003 periods. Nevertheless, this paper can be a valuable benchmark for further research. Practical implications The paper reveals that cash dividends are not used as a monitoring mechanism by investors in Turkey and the expropriation argument through dividends for Turkish families is relatively weak. Accordingly, the findings of this paper may benefit policymakers, investors and fellow researchers, who seek useful guidance from relevant literature. Originality/value To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this paper is the first to examine the link between ownership structure and dividend policy in Turkey after the implementation of major reforms in 2003.

scholarly journals BOARD COMPOSITION, OWNERSHIP STRUCTURE AND DIVIDEND POLICY IN PAKISTAN

2015 ◽  
Vol 03 (02) ◽  
pp. 30-39
Author(s):  
Usmna Azher ◽  
◽  
Syed Kahsif Saeed
Keyword(s):  
Ownership Structure ◽  
Dividend Policy ◽  
Positive Impact ◽  
Stock Exchange ◽  
Board Composition ◽  
Board Independence ◽  
Dividend Payout ◽  
Financial Firms ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Decision Board

The aim of this study was to examine the impact of board composition and ownership structure on dividend policy of the firms listed in Karachi stock exchange. For this purpose, the data of 150 non-financial firms from 2008 to 2012 was employed. This study used descriptive as well as fixed effect and logit models for the estimation purpose. Results showed that CEO Duality and ownership concentration have an insignificant impact on dividend policy. Profitability measures and institutional ownership showed a positive significant impact on both dividend payout ratio and dividend decision. Board independence showed a significant positive impact on dividend payout ratio; however, it remained insignificant in case of dividend decisions.

scholarly journals OWNERSHIP STRUCTURE, BOARD SIZE, BOARD COMPOSITION AND DIVIDEND POLICY: NEW EVIDENCE FROM TWO EMERGING MARKETS

2016 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Muhammad Sadiq Shahid ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Corporate Governance ◽  
Emerging Markets ◽  
Ownership Structure ◽  
Fixed Effects ◽  
Dividend Policy ◽  
Positive Impact ◽  
Board Composition ◽  
Board Size ◽  
Listed Firms ◽  
The Impact

Good corporate governance practices build equilibrium between management and shareholders and eliminate agency problems, as results managers pursue a suboptimal dividend policy. The aim of this study is to examine the potential relationship between ownership structure, board size, board composition, CEO duality and dividend policy of 176 listed firms at KSE and 280 listed firms at BSI from 2010-2015. We used pooled OLS regression test to analyze the association between corporate governance determinants and dividend policy. Among other methods, VIF and Hausman tests had been used to check the fitting of Random effects and fixed effects, while fixed effect method was chosen to test the hypothesis. We discover a positive association between managerial ownership, board size, board independent and dividend policy, while a negative association of ownership concentration and dividend policy. Finally, it is observed that there is a positive impact of return on assets (ROA) and size on dividend policy. This study will contribute to the existing literature through investigating the impact of corporate governance on dividend policies of listed firms in emerging markets.

How does ownership structure affect the financing and dividend decisions of firm?

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Tahar Tayachi ◽  
Ahmed Imran Hunjra ◽  
Kirsten Jones ◽  
Rashid Mehmood ◽  
Mamdouh Abdulaziz Saleh Al-Faryan
Keyword(s):  
Ownership Structure ◽  
Dividend Policy ◽  
Generalized Method Of Moments ◽  
Institutional Ownership ◽  
Agency Cost ◽  
Debt Financing ◽  
Policy Implications ◽  
Managerial Ownership ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Impact

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.

Determinants of corporate social and environmental voluntary disclosure in Saudi listed firms

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Helmi A. Boshnak
Keyword(s):  
Corporate Governance ◽  
Firm Size ◽  
Ownership Structure ◽  
Voluntary Disclosure ◽  
Firm Characteristics ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Listed Firms ◽  
Corporate Social ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Ifrs Implementation

Purpose This paper aims to examine firm characteristics and ownership structure determinants of corporate social and environmental voluntary disclosure (CSEVD) practices in Saudi Arabia to address the paucity of research in this field for Saudi listed firms. Design/methodology/approach The paper uses manual content and regression analyses for online annual report data for Saudi non-financial listed firms over the period 2016–2018 using CSEVD items drawing on global reporting initiative-G4 guidelines. Findings Models show that Saudi firm CSEVD has increased over time compared to previous studies to an average of 68% disclosure due to new corporate governance regulations and IFRS implementation. The models show that firm size, leverage, manufacturing industry type and government ownership are positive determinants of CSEVD, while family ownership is the negative driver of CSEVD. However, firm profitability, audit firm size, firm age and institutional ownership have no impact on the level of CSEVD. Originality/value Using legitimacy and stakeholder theories, the paper determines the influence of firm characteristics and ownership structure on CSEVD, identifying implications for firm stakeholders and providing some evidence on the impact of corporate governance regulation and IFRS implementation on such disclosure. The paper provides additional evidence on progress towards Saudi’s Vision 2030.

Board composition and value relevance of Ghanaian firms: a seemingly unrelated regression approach

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ebenezer Agyemang Badu ◽  
Ebenezer Nyarko Assabil
Keyword(s):  
Best Practices ◽  
Firm Value ◽  
Value Relevance ◽  
Practical Implication ◽  
Seemingly Unrelated Regression ◽  
Board Composition ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Listed Firms ◽  
Unrelated Regression ◽  
The Impact

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to examine the connection between board composition and value relevance of financial information in Ghana.Design/methodology/approachThe study uses a panel data of 144 firm-year observations of listed firms in Ghana.FindingsThe study finds that a higher fraction of independent directors is associated with lower firm value. The study further finds that board size is positively related to firm value, whereas duality is negatively associated with firm value.Practical implicationsThe practical implication of this paper is that investors and regulators should be mindful that specifying governance composition should not only be based on “so-called” codes of best practices but also the level of the country's or the sector's development and local institutional structures.Originality/valueThis study uses five different measurements of market share and considers the impact of the provision of the Code of Best Practices in Ghana.

The impact of corporate governance and ownership structure reforms on earnings quality in China

2015 ◽  
Vol 23 (2) ◽  
pp. 169-198 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xu_Dong Ji ◽  
Kamran Ahmed ◽  
Wei Lu
Keyword(s):  
Corporate Governance ◽  
Ownership Structure ◽  
Earnings Quality ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Governance Mechanisms ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Listed Firms ◽  
Ownership Structures ◽  
Corporate Governance Mechanisms ◽  
The Impact

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effect of corporate governance and ownership structures on earnings quality in China both prior and subsequent to two important corporate reforms: the code of corporate governance (CCG) in 2002 and the split share structure reform (SSR) in 2005. Design/methodology/approach – This study utilises informativeness of earnings (earnings response coefficient), conditional accounting conservatism and managerial discretionary accruals to assess earnings quality using 12,267 firm-year observations over 11 years from 2000 to 2010. Further, two dummy variables for measuring the changes of CCG and SSR are employed to estimate the effects of CCG and SSR reforms on earnings quality via OLS regression. Findings – This study finds that the promulgation of the CCG in 2002 has had a positive impact, but the SSR reform in 2005 has had little effect on listed firms’ earnings quality in China. These results hold good after controlling for a number of ownership, governance and other variables and estimating models with multiple measures of earnings’ quality. Research limitations/implications – Future research could focus on how western style corporate governance mechanisms have been constrained by the old management systems and governmental dominated ownership structures in Chinese listed firms. The conclusion is that simply coping Western corporate governance model is not suitable for every country. Practical implications – The results will assist Chinese regulators in improving reporting quality, ownership structure and governance mechanisms in China. The results will help international investors better understand quality of financial information in China. Originality/value – This is the first to our knowledge that addresses the effects of major governance and ownership reforms together on accounting earnings quality and, thus, makes a significant contribution on understanding the effect of regulatory reforms on improving earnings quality. In doing so, it also indirectly assesses the effectiveness of western-style corporate governance mechanisms introduced in China.

Dividend policy and stock price volatility of industrial products firms in Malaysia

2018 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 203-217 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rozaimah Zainudin ◽  
Nurul Shahnaz Mahdzan ◽  
Chee Hong Yet
Keyword(s):  
Stock Price ◽  
Dividend Policy ◽  
Price Volatility ◽  
Industrial Products ◽  
Stock Price Volatility ◽  
Dividend Payout ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Crisis Period ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The Relationship

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to analyse the relationship between stock price volatility (SPV) and dividend policy of industrial products firms listed on Bursa Malaysia. Design/methodology/approach The sample comprises 166 industrial products public-listed firms covering a time span from year 2003 to 2012. Using Baskin’s framework, firm’s SPV is related to dividend payout, controlling for earnings volatility, firm size, leverage and growth of assets. Further, the impact of the global financial crisis on the relationship between SPV and the tested variables is examined. Findings Earning volatility significantly explains SPV of industrial product firms during the crisis period, while dividend payout ratio (PR) predominantly influences volatility during pre- and post-crisis sub-periods. The empirical results indicate that dividend policy is a strong predictor of SPV of industrial products firms in Malaysia, particularly during the post-crisis period. Originality/value The paper explores the firm’s SPV and dividend policy for a new set of data focussing on industrial products firms listed on the Malaysian Stock Exchange.

scholarly journals The Relationship between Ownership Structure and Dividend Policy: An Application in Vietnam Stock Exchange

2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 131-146
Author(s):  
Thi Xuan Anh Tran ◽  
Quoc Tuan Le
Keyword(s):  
Ownership Structure ◽  
Institutional Investors ◽  
Stock Exchange ◽  
Payout Policy ◽  
Ownership Concentration ◽  
H Index ◽  
Dividend Payout ◽  
Listed Firms ◽  
Ownership Composition ◽  
The Relationship

Abstract This research examines the possible association between ownership structure and Vietnam listed companies’ dividend payout policy over the period of 2009 – 2015. We have investigated 642 listed firms in Hochiminh stock exchange and Hanoi stock exchange, using pannel data analysis. Ownership structure is described with two main sub-variables: ownership concentration and ownership composition. Specifically, the Herfindahl index (or H-index) was applied to measure the level of ownership concentration /dispersion for all major shareholders in the company, including the five biggest investors, corporate institutional investors, the ownership concentration level, and foreign investors. It has been observed that the H-index of all major shareholders has an average of less than 0.5 but the value of the H-index of institutional investors at 0.594 indicates that institutional investors are more likely to be concentrated in the hands of large institutional investors. The result showed linear relationship between institutional ownership and the dividend rate, but not statistically significant for the relationship between managerial ownership and dividend payout ratio.

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