Corporate life cycle, CSR, and dividend policy: empirical evidence of Indonesian listed firms

2018 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
pp. 159-178 ◽  
Author(s):  
Febi Trihermanto ◽  
Yunieta Anny Nainggolan

Purpose This paper aims to examine the association between corporate social responsibility (CSR) and corporate life cycle as well as dividend policy in Indonesia. Design/methodology/approach The paper develops two hypotheses that are tested empirically through multivariate settings. The tests are conducted using a sample of 527 Indonesian listed firms and 923 Indonesian firm-year observations between 2008 and 2015. Findings The findings support the hypothesis that CSR expenses increase when firms enter the maturity stage of their life cycle. On the triple bottom line components of CSR, firms which invest on CSR economic are in their maturity stage of their life cycle. The evidence also suggests that firms’ social donation and charitable giving increase as firms become mature. Furthermore, the strong evidence supports the hypothesis that firms’ CSR expenses positively affect dividend policy. This finding is robust to the alternative measurement of dividend payout, additional firms’ characteristics and instrumental variable to address endogeneity. Practical implications For investors in Indonesian listed firms, it is more profitable to invest in socially responsible firms than socially irresponsible firms. For firms, the results imply that spending in CSR does not reduce performance, thus becoming attractive for investors. Originality/value To the best of the authors’ knowledge, there is thin literature investigating the relation between corporate life cycle, CSR, and dividend policy in emerging markets while it is important as it could encourage companies to integrate CSR into their business strategy and transparently disclose their CSR activities. Further, as previous research on these topics mainly conducted using the US data (Rakotomavo, 2012; Benlemlih, 2014; Hasan and Habib, 2017), which most of CSR disclosures are voluntary, this paper contributes to the existing literature by examining these topics in a country where CSR is mandatory by the law.

2017 ◽  
Vol 43 (12) ◽  
pp. 1332-1347 ◽  
Author(s):  
H. Kent Baker ◽  
Imad Jabbouri

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine how Moroccan institutional investors view dividend policy. It discusses the importance these investors attach to the dividend policy of their investee firms, how much influence they exercise in shaping investee firms’ dividend policies, their reactions to changes in dividends, and their views on various explanations for paying dividends. Design/methodology/approach A mail survey provides a respondent and firm profile and responses to 28 questions involving various explanations for paying dividends and 30 questions on different dividend issues. Findings Institutional investors attach substantial importance to dividend policy and prefer high dividend payments. Although liquidity needs are a major driver, taxes play little role in shaping dividend preferences. Respondents agree with multiple explanations for paying dividends giving the strongest support to catering, bird-in-the-hand, life cycle, signaling, and agency theories. Research limitations/implications Despite a high response rate, the number of respondents limits partitioning the sample and testing for significant differences between different groups. Practical implications The lack of communication between Casablanca Stock Exchange (CSE) listed firms and institutional investors may depress stock prices and increase volatility. The results suggest agency problems and a weak governance environment at the CSE. Originality/value This study documents the importance that institutional investors place on dividend policy, their reactions to changes in their investees’ dividend policy, and the methods used to influence these firms. It extends previous research by reporting the level of support Moroccan institutional investors give to various explanations for paying dividends.


2014 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
pp. 211-219 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shital Jhunjhunwala

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to emphasize the importance and means of making corporate social responsibility (CSR) an integral part of corporate strategy with the help of case studies. Design/methodology/approach – The article explores the transformation of business from being egocentric to socially responsible. With the use of examples it demonstrates how integrating CSR into strategy can create sustainable business models. Findings – Firms need to develop a framework for integrating CSR into their business strategy for long term successful survival. Social implications – Corporates and society are intertwined and mutually dependent. Business cannot survive without society's acquiescence nor succeed without its active support. Originality/value – The article explains the benefits of CSR and how to make it an integral part of business strategy to gain a competitive advantage.


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.


2019 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
pp. 168-180
Author(s):  
Heng-Yu Chang ◽  
Chun-Ai Ma

Purpose As the capital market in China is still developing, several constraints on a Chinese-listed firm’s financing strategy have a direct impact on its financial flexibility. The purpose of this paper is to reconstruct traditional financial flexibility index (FFI) derived from the western context, provide empirical evidence within eastern context by modified FFI and examine how the managerial efficiency of Chinese-listed firms is demonstrated with modified FFI to escort corporate life cycle hypothesis. Design/methodology/approach By tailored FFI to fit the contemporary operations of Chinese-listed firms, this study investigates how managerial efficiency varies across different life stages to demonstrate the moderating power in the firm performance of financially flexible firm. Findings It is found that financially flexible firms in the Chinese stock market generally experience good firm performance, yet the managerial efficiency could gradually be diminishing at their mature stage even firms’ financial flexibility remains consistent with the agency theory. This paper sheds light on the necessity to reexamine the components in financial flexibility based on the eastern context, and provides avenue to further understand the managerial behavior of Chinese listed firms when considering firm life cycles. Research limitations/implications Although it is difficult for this current study to offer the precise weights on each factor in calculating financial flexibility, the judgment matrix method is adopted to at least provide reliable estimates in accordance with Chinese business contexts with less than 10 percent errors in contrast to the actual weights. Practical implications This modified FFI is particularly suitable for Chinese-listed firms under certain unique financial reporting regulations by adjusting a number of weights and factors. This study may help practitioners understand the managerial conduct of publicly listed firms in China. Originality/value The paper constructs a modified FFI with Chinese stock market characteristics embedded, and provides insightful evidence to explain the new pecking order theory by considering the life cycle stage of Chinese-listed companies.


2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Yogesh Chauhan ◽  
Rajesh Pathak

PurposeThe paper examines how earnings transparency affects dividend payouts for Indian firms. The authors also explore the channels through which earnings transparency affects dividend payouts.Design/methodology/approachThe authors employ panel data estimation with fixed effects to examine the role of earnings transparency on dividend payouts. The authors also use path analysis to explore causation. The paper uses a sample of more than 2000 Indian listed firms, over the period 2001–2016.FindingsThe authors report that firms showing grater earning transparency pay more cash dividend. Their results do not support the signaling hypothesis about the dividend. However, these results provide explicit support to the theory that corporate dividend policy is an outcome of information asymmetry. Moreover, the path analysis reveals the effect of earnings transparency on corporate payout through the financial constraint channel. The results are robust to idiosyncratic controls; alternate measures of payout; alternate models; endogeneity concerns; and the alternate channel of returning money to stockholders.Practical implicationsManagers should also examine earnings transparency while formulating an adequate dividend policy for their firms. This study also helps investors to identify dividend-paying stocks.Originality/valueThis study particularly contributes to the literature examining the effect of earnings quality on dividend payouts through its effect on financial constraints. We, therefore, connect two streams of research that contemplate the relation between accounting-based information variables and dividend payouts and the relationship between financial constraints and dividend payouts. Moreover, using path analysis uniquely, the authors provide evidence on the relative importance of both the direct and the indirect link.


2016 ◽  
Vol 7 (4) ◽  
pp. 510-541 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chunfang Cao ◽  
Fansheng Jia ◽  
Xiaowei Zhang ◽  
Kam C. Chan

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.


Author(s):  
Kin-Wai Lee ◽  
Char-Lee Lok

Using a sample of listed firms in Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore and Thailand, this article examines the association between busy board of directors and firm performance. We offer three results. First, we find that firm performance (measured by operating profitability and market-to-book equity) is negatively associated with busy boards. Second, we find that firms with busy boards have higher operating risk (measured by volatility of return on assets, volatility of stock returns and volatility of operating cash flow). Third, we find that the association between firm performance and busy boards is conditional on the firm’s life cycle stage. For firms in the growth stage, busy boards are beneficial to firm performance suggesting that the experience knowledge and reputation accumulated with multiple directorships help busy directors to more effectively advise these firms. In contrast, for firms in the maturity stage of their life cycle, busy boards are detrimental to firm performance suggesting the monitoring role of board is weakened by multiple directorships.


Author(s):  
Eman Abdel-Wanis

The aim of this paper is to investigate the impact of corporate social responsibility(CSR) on dividend policy through corporate life cycle (CLC) as a mediator using pathanalysis for 308 firms-observation for 80 non-financial firms during the period from 2014to 2017 using smart PLS (partial least square). This paper explores the impact of the socialresponsibility on the dividends policy and explores the role of each life cycle in this effecton dividends. The results show that firms in their growth stage are positively associatedwith CSR, while firms in stage of decline are less likely to invest in CSR. High CSR firmsmay use dividend policy to reduce the agency problems related to overinvestment in CSR.Results refer to corporate life cycle isn't influenced by dividends. The results show thatcorporate life cycles play an important role in enhance the relationship CSR and dividendpolicy especially in the growth stage in in the Egyptian business environment


2016 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. 135-161 ◽  
Author(s):  
Basil Al-Najjar ◽  
Erhan Kilincarslan

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.


2015 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 23-43 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas O'Connor ◽  
Julie Byrne

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine whether corporate governance changes along the corporate life-cycle. Design/methodology/approach – In a sample of 205 firms from 21 emerging market countries and using a life-cycle proxy from the dividends literature, the authors use a governance-prediction model which examines whether corporate governance differs along the corporate life-cycle. Findings – Mature firms tend to practice better overall corporate governance. Discipline and independence improve as firms mature. Firms tend to be most transparent and accountable when they are young. These findings suggest that the resource/strategy and monitoring/control governance functions are relevant but at different life-cycle stages. Research limitations/implications – In the absence of longitudinal governance data with sufficient coverage to track within-firm changes in corporate governance along the corporate life-cycle, the authors analyze differences in corporate governance between-firms at different life-cycle stages. Originality/value – The authors use an alternative, yet new measure from the dividends literature to account for the firm’s position along the corporate life-cycle. With this new measure, the findings are in line with the predictions of Filatotchev et al. (2006).


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