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The purpose of this research is to identify the variables with an expected influence on dividend policy and on payout ratio in an emerging market.

Based on the literature, eight hypotheses were developed and tested using 300 firms randomly selected from the Kuala Lumpur Stock Exchange. Additional statistical analyses were presented.

The results suggest that current dividends are affected by their pasts and their future prospects. To a lesser extent dividends were associated with net earnings. Payout ratios (POR) were not found to have a strong effect on the company's future earning growth, but had some significant negative correlation with the company's leverage. Cash per share and share book value significantly and positively affect both DPS and POR.

The findings of the study might be of interest to academicians and practitioners.

This paper explores the dividend policy and the payout ratio of listed companies in a fast‐growing market that has received inadequate research attention. The paper thus adds to the body of accounting knowledge.

This paper aims to examine the impact of the dividend payout ratio on future stock returns and momentum strategies.

The author uses the portfolio sorting approach used in the momentum literature to examine this impact.

First, the author shows that the returns for the winner stocks tend to be the largest if no dividends are paid and then decrease with the dividend payout ratio; the returns for the loser stocks tend to have an inverted U-shaped relationship with the dividend payout ratio, but the zero-dividend loser stocks have the smallest return; and the returns for the stocks between the winners and the losers tend to remain similar, regardless of the dividend payout ratio. Second, the author shows that momentum profit is the largest for the stocks that do not make dividend payment but appear similar for the stocks that pay dividends. The author's empirical findings imply that stock price momentum is a function of the dividend payout ratio, growth stock momentum tends to be much stronger than value stock momentum and no-dividend stock momentum beats dividend stock momentum. In fact, when the dividend payout ratio is considered, momentum profit can be improved by up to 63 per cent.

This paper is the first one to examine the impact of dividend payout ratios on future stock returns and momentum profit, and it obtained many interesting empirical results. In addition, unlike most studies in the momentum literature that use behavioral theory to explain empirical findings, this paper uses the growth option idea to present a rational explanation for the empirical results in this paper.

This paper aims to examine the conditional and nonlinear relationship between price-earnings (P/E) ratio and payout ratio. A common finding of previous studies using linear regression model is that the P/E ratio is positively related to the dividend payout ratio. However, none of them investigates the condition under which the positive relationship holds.

This paper uses the fixed effects model to investigate the conditional and nonlinear relationship between P/E ratio and payout ratio. With the inclusion of fundamental factors and investor sentiment, this model allows for nonlinear relationship to be conditioned on the return on equity and the required rate of return.

Based on the annual data of industries in the USA over the period of 1998-2014, this paper produces new evidence indicating that when the return on equity is greater (less) than the required rate of return, the P/E ratio and dividend payout ratio exhibit a negative (positive) relationship and positive (negative) convexity.

Due to the curvature relationship between P/E ratio and payout ratio, the corporate managers and stock investors should pay more attention to the reduction in payout ratio than the rising payout ratio and the companies with low payout ratios than the companies with high payout ratios.

No previous study has tackled the issue of conditional and nonlinear relationship between P/E ratio and payout ratio. This paper attempts to fill the gap by allowing for nonlinear relationship conditional on the relative values of the return on equity and the required rate of return.

This paper features a study of the dividend policies of the larger listed British companies. It focusses on the sample companies' usage of target payout ratios. A company with a target payout is defined as one which has a policy of attempting to pay out a fixed proportion of available earnings as dividends. In particular, it examines the extent of the usage of explicit target payouts, the range of target payouts adopted and the frequency of changes in such targets. It also examines the factors which are perceived to have an influence on the company's choice of these targets. Finally, it extends and parallels previous work by Partington (1984) on the use of target payouts by Australian companies.

This study seeks to examine the determinants of dividend payout ratios of listed companies in Ghana.

The analyses are performed using data derived from the financial statements of firms listed on the Ghana Stock Exchange during a six‐year period. Ordinary Least Squares model is used to estimate the regression equation. Institutional holding is used as a proxy for agency cost. Growth in sales and market‐to‐book value are also used as proxies for investment opportunities.

The results show positive relationships between dividend payout ratios and profitability, cash flow, and tax. The results also show negative associations between dividend payout and risk, institutional holding, growth and market‐to‐book value. However, the significant variables in the results are profitability, cash flow, sale growth and market‐to‐book value.

The main value of this study is the identification of the factors that influence the dividend payout policy decisions of listed firms in Ghana.

The purpose of this paper is to empirically investigate if and how firm performance in corporate social responsibility (CSR) is related to corporate payouts and how competition in product markets influences this relation.

Logit and Tobit regressions are used to estimate the relation between firm performance in CSR and corporate payouts.

The empirical results show that firm performance in CSR is positively related to the propensity and level of dividends, repurchases and total payouts (dividends plus repurchases). However, the positive relation between CSR performance and corporate payouts is significant only for firms that operate in low competition markets. In high competition markets, CSR performance does not seem to have any significant relation with corporate payouts.

This study uses MSCI social ratings data to measure net scores on CSR. There is no systematic conceptual reason for measuring social performance using MSCI social ratings. Future research should use other measures of social performance (e.g. Dow Jones Sustainability Index, Accountability Ratings and Global Reporting Initiative to estimate the relation between CSR and corporate payouts).

CSR firms are more likely to choose higher payouts when they operate in low competition markets.

This study contributes to the stream of research that evaluates the payout choices of CSR firms and competition in product markets. To the author's knowledge, this is the first study that documents the impact of market competition on the relation between firm performance in CSR and corporate payouts.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the determinants of the dividend decisions of firms in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA).

The paper applies a two-step estimation procedure using firm-level panel data for firms in selected SSA countries during the period from 1997 to 2007. In the first step the paper employs a probit model to estimate the parameters of the determinants of the decision to pay or not to pay dividends. In the second step the paper estimates the parameters of the dividend payout and dividend per share models by applying the generalised least squares techniques.

The results provide consistent evidence that dividend decision and its payments are influenced by firm profitability level, investment opportunity sets, taxation, leverage, institutional shareholding and risk. The results affirm the signalling, agency cost and free-cash flow theories of dividend policy.

The main value of this paper is identification of factors that influence dividend decisions of firms in SSA.

The purpose of this paper is to empirically examine the link between institutional ownership stability and dividend payout ratio.

First, the authors estimate the propensity of a firm to pay dividend. Next, the authors perform panel fixed-effect regressions of dividend payouts on institutional ownership stability variables. The authors also compare institutional ownership between dividend paying and non-dividend paying investee firms. The authors analyze the dividend preferences of different types of institutional owners. Finally, the authors examine the cross-sectional variation in the volatility of dividend payouts.

The authors find that stable and large institutional owners favor dividend paying companies. There also exists a positive association between ownership persistence and dividend payout. Conversely, firms that change their dividend payout frequently are associated with larger deviations in institutional ownership. Additionally, the presence of pressure-sensitive institutional investors (i.e. investors that also hold business ties with the investee firm) is significantly linked to dividend payout policy. Conversely, pressure-insensitive investors use alternative forms of monitoring instead of requiring investee firms to pay dividends, which serve to reduce agency conflicts.

This paper considers the preferences of long-term stable institutional investors in their selection of dividend paying firms.

This study aims to examine the effect of corporate governance on firms' dividend payout policy in sub‐Saharan Africa. The study also aims to examine how dividend payout influences corporate governance.

Using a sample made up 27 Ghanaian firms, 177 Nigerian firms, 51 Kenyan firms, and 270 South African firms covering the period 1997‐2006, the paper employs a simultaneous panel regression model in its estimation.

The results show that board composition and board size exhibit significantly positive relationship with dividend payout in Kenya and Ghana, respectively. Institutional ownership positively influences dividend payout among South African and Kenyan firms. In the case of Nigeria, all the corporate governance measures show significantly negative effects on dividend payout. The findings clearly suggest that, with respect to South Africa, Kenya and Ghana, good corporate governance structures lead to high‐dividend payout, probably due to easy access to and low cost of external finance. However, in Nigeria, improving the governance structures may be associated with high‐earnings retention or low‐dividend payment in order to reduce cost of external finance. We found in the case of Ghana that, dividend payout positively affects board composition, suggesting that Ghanaian firms with high‐payout tend to adopt good corporate governance structures in order to ensure protection of shareholder interest. The findings of this study certainly have important policy implications.

This present study contributes to the corporate governance literature by looking at the importance of corporate governance in influencing firms' dividend behaviour in selected African countries.

This paper seeks to present and test a model of the association between dividend payout and executive compensation.

The authors develop a model based on Bhattacharyya whereby managerial quality is unobservable to shareholders, and therefore first‐best contracts are not possible. In the second‐best world, compensation contracts motivate high quality managers to retain and invest firm earnings, while low quality managers are motivated to distribute income to shareholders. These hypotheses arising from the model are tested on data for Canadian firms' dividend payouts over the period 1993‐1995 using tobit regression analyses.

Consistent with the predictions of the Bhattacharyya model, the results show that, ceteris paribus, earnings retention (dividend payout) is positively (negatively) associated with executive compensation. These results hold when payout is defined as common dividends plus common share repurchases.

The Canadian data provide only limited information on the components of executive compensation. A more useful test would be possible with more detailed information on, for example, salary, bonus, and benefits.

Several recent papers have documented an association between dividends and executive compensation. This paper presents and tests a model that provides a potential explanation for this link.