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Corporate governance and dividend policy: A comparison of Chinese firms listed in Hong Kong and in the Mainland

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  • Zhang, Haiyan

Abstract

This study compares the cash dividend policy of Chinese firms listed in Hong Kong and on the Mainland. It shows that, in both groups, firms that have higher managerial membership on the board tend to pay lower cash dividends. The relation is stronger in Mainland-listed firms, indicating that managers' influence on the board creates more serious agency problems. This study further shows that ownership concentration of Mainland-listed firms tends to weaken the association between managerial membership on the board and lower cash dividends, suggesting that concentrated ownership in the Mainland reduces the agency cost. Finally, this study shows that there is a price premium attaching to dividend payout of HK-listed Chinese firms, but there is no such premium in the Mainland market. Further, the same dividend premium is also observed in local firms listed in Hong Kong. Taken together, this study indicates that the pricing mechanism of Hong Kong's equity market appears to encourage managers of HK-listed firms to pay dividends. The same mechanism is not found to exist in the Mainland market. This difference helps to explain the finding that the controlling shareholders of HK-listed firms take a less active role in dividend policy than those of their peers on the Mainland. Thus, Hong Kong's equity market seems to provide a mechanism that can be used by Chinese firms listed there.

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  • Zhang, Haiyan, 2008. "Corporate governance and dividend policy: A comparison of Chinese firms listed in Hong Kong and in the Mainland," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 19(3), pages 437-459, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:chieco:v:19:y:2008:i:3:p:437-459
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    3. Jianan Guo, 2016. "Ultimate Controlling Shareholders and Dividend Payout Policy in Chinese Stock Market," Review of Pacific Basin Financial Markets and Policies (RPBFMP), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 19(02), pages 1-35, June.
    4. Cao, Lihong & Du, Yan & Hansen, Jens Ørding, 2017. "Foreign institutional investors and dividend policy: Evidence from China," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 26(5), pages 816-827.
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    6. Mehmet Levent Erdaş & Emel Bachá Sımoes, 2020. "The Relationship between Audit Mechanisms and Dividend Payout Policy within the Framework of Corporate Governance: The Case of Turkey," Journal of Economy Culture and Society, Istanbul University, Faculty of Economics, vol. 62(0), pages 255-284, December.
    7. Dennis Tao Yang, 2012. "Aggregate Savings and External Imbalances in China," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 26(4), pages 125-146, Fall.
    8. Adeel Mustafa & Abubakr Saeed & Muhammad Awais & Shahab Aziz, 2020. "Board-Gender Diversity, Family Ownership, and Dividend Announcement: Evidence from Asian Emerging Economies," JRFM, MDPI, vol. 13(4), pages 1-20, March.
    9. Gehan A. Mousa, 2014. "The Association between Accounting Conservatism and Cash Dividends: Evidence from Emerging Markets," International Journal of Academic Research in Accounting, Finance and Management Sciences, Human Resource Management Academic Research Society, International Journal of Academic Research in Accounting, Finance and Management Sciences, vol. 4(4), pages 210-220, October.
    10. Paul McGuinness & Kevin Lam & João Vieito, 2015. "Gender and other major board characteristics in China: Explaining corporate dividend policy and governance," Asia Pacific Journal of Management, Springer, vol. 32(4), pages 989-1038, December.
    11. Paul B. McGuinness, 2018. "IPO Firm Performance and Its Link with Board Officer Gender, Family-Ties and Other Demographics," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 152(2), pages 499-521, October.
    12. William Bradford & Chao Chen & Song Zhu, 2017. "Conservative Accounting, IFRS Convergence and Cash Dividend Payments: Evidence from China," European Financial Management, European Financial Management Association, vol. 23(3), pages 376-414, June.
    13. Jiao, Feng & Liu, Qingfu & Tse, Yiuman & Wang, Zhiqin, 2022. "Price disparity between Chinese A- and H-shares: Dividends, currency values, and the interest rate differential," Global Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 53(C).
    14. Hussein Abedi Shamsabadi & Byung-Seong Min & Richard Chung, 2016. "Corporate governance and dividend strategy: lessons from Australia," International Journal of Managerial Finance, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 12(5), pages 583-610, October.
    15. Jiang, Zhan & Kim, Kenneth A., 2013. "Financial management in China," Journal of Multinational Financial Management, Elsevier, vol. 23(3), pages 125-133.
    16. Mehmet Levent Erdaş & Emel Bachá Sımoes, 2020. "The Relationship between Audit Mechanisms and Dividend Payout Policy within the Framework of Corporate Governance: The Case of Turkey," Journal of Economy Culture and Society, Istanbul University, Faculty of Economics, vol. 62(62), pages 255-284, December.
    17. Kuang Kuang Deng & Siu Kei Wong & Kwong Wing Chau, 2018. "Institutions and Capital Structure: The Case of Chinese Property Firms," The Journal of Real Estate Finance and Economics, Springer, vol. 56(3), pages 352-385, April.
    18. Suleiman Hussein Al-Beshtawi & Omar Mohammed Zraqat & Hamdan Moh¡¯D Al ¨CHiyasat, 2014. "The Impact of Corporate Governance on Non Financial Performance in Jordanian Commercial Banks and Islamic Banks," International Journal of Financial Research, International Journal of Financial Research, Sciedu Press, vol. 5(3), pages 54-67, July.

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