IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/ecofin/v63y2022ics1062940822001711.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The effect of board independence on dividend payouts: A quasi-natural experiment

Author

Listed:
  • Chintrakarn, Pandej
  • Jiraporn, Pornsit
  • Treepongkaruna, Sirimon
  • Mook Lee, Sang

Abstract

Motivated by agency theory, we investigate the effect of board independence on dividend policy. We exploit as a quasi-natural experiment the passage of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act and the associated exchange listing requirement, mandating firms to have a majority of independent directors. Our difference-in-difference estimates show that firms forced to raise board independence are significantly more likely to pay dividends than firms not required to change board independence. Our results are consistent with the notion that stronger board independence forces managers to disgorge more cash to shareholders, thereby reducing what is left for possible expropriation by opportunistic managers. Based on an exogenous regulatory shock, our results are more likely to show a casual effect, rather than merely an association.

Suggested Citation

  • Chintrakarn, Pandej & Jiraporn, Pornsit & Treepongkaruna, Sirimon & Mook Lee, Sang, 2022. "The effect of board independence on dividend payouts: A quasi-natural experiment," The North American Journal of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 63(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:ecofin:v:63:y:2022:i:c:s1062940822001711
    DOI: 10.1016/j.najef.2022.101836
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1062940822001711
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.najef.2022.101836?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Vidhi Chhaochharia & Yaniv Grinstein, 2009. "CEO Compensation and Board Structure," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 64(1), pages 231-261, February.
    2. Eugene F. Fama & Kenneth R. French, 2001. "Disappearing Dividends: Changing Firm Characteristics Or Lower Propensity To Pay?," Journal of Applied Corporate Finance, Morgan Stanley, vol. 14(1), pages 67-79, March.
    3. Abdallah, Wissam & Goergen, Marc, 2008. "Does corporate control determine the cross-listing location?," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 14(3), pages 183-199, June.
    4. Joseph G. Altonji & Todd E. Elder & Christopher R. Taber, 2005. "Selection on Observed and Unobserved Variables: Assessing the Effectiveness of Catholic Schools," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 113(1), pages 151-184, February.
    5. Dittmar, Amy & Mahrt-Smith, Jan & Servaes, Henri, 2003. "International Corporate Governance and Corporate Cash Holdings," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 38(1), pages 111-133, March.
    6. Fodil Adjaoud & Walid Ben‐Amar, 2010. "Corporate Governance and Dividend Policy: Shareholders’ Protection or Expropriation?," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 37(5‐6), pages 648-667, June.
    7. Jensen, Michael C. & Meckling, William H., 1976. "Theory of the firm: Managerial behavior, agency costs and ownership structure," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 3(4), pages 305-360, October.
    8. Brockman, Paul & Unlu, Emre, 2011. "Earned/contributed capital, dividend policy, and disclosure quality: An international study," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 35(7), pages 1610-1625, July.
    9. Rafael La Porta & Florencio Lopez‐de‐Silanes & Andrei Shleifer & Robert W. Vishny, 2000. "Agency Problems and Dividend Policies around the World," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 55(1), pages 1-33, February.
    10. Bin Chang & Shantanu Dutta, 2012. "Dividends and Corporate Governance: Canadian Evidence," The IUP Journal of Applied Finance, IUP Publications, vol. 18(4), pages 5-30, October.
    11. Jensen, Michael C, 1986. "Agency Costs of Free Cash Flow, Corporate Finance, and Takeovers," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 76(2), pages 323-329, May.
    12. Lubomir Petrasek, 2012. "Do Transparent Firms Pay out More Cash to Shareholders? Evidence from International Cross-Listings," Financial Management, Financial Management Association International, vol. 41(3), pages 615-636, September.
    13. Fodil Adjaoud & Walid Ben-Amar, 2010. "Corporate Governance and Dividend Policy: Shareholders' Protection or Expropriation?," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 37(5-6), pages 648-667.
    14. repec:bla:jfinan:v:59:y:2004:i:3:p:1125-1165 is not listed on IDEAS
    15. Chung, Kee H. & Elder, John & Kim, Jang-Chul, 2010. "Corporate Governance and Liquidity," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 45(2), pages 265-291, April.
    16. Eliezer M. Fich, 2005. "Are Some Outside Directors Better than Others? Evidence from Director Appointments by Fortune 1000 Firms," The Journal of Business, University of Chicago Press, vol. 78(5), pages 1943-1972, September.
    17. Joseph D. Piotroski & Suraj Srinivasan, 2008. "Regulation and Bonding: The Sarbanes‐Oxley Act and the Flow of International Listings," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 46(2), pages 383-425, May.
    18. Brown, Lawrence D. & Caylor, Marcus L., 2006. "Corporate governance and firm valuation," Journal of Accounting and Public Policy, Elsevier, vol. 25(4), pages 409-434.
    19. Bill B. Francis & Iftekhar Hasan & Kose John & Liang Song, 2011. "Corporate Governance and Dividend Payout Policy: A Test Using Antitakeover Legislation," Financial Management, Financial Management Association International, vol. 40(1), pages 83-112, March.
    20. Sung C. Bae & Kiyoung Chang & Eun Kang, 2012. "Culture, Corporate Governance, And Dividend Policy: International Evidence," Journal of Financial Research, Southern Finance Association;Southwestern Finance Association, vol. 35(2), pages 289-316, June.
    21. Pornsit Jiraporn & Sang Mook Lee, 2018. "Do Co†Opted Directors Influence Dividend Policy?," Financial Management, Financial Management Association International, vol. 47(2), pages 349-381, June.
    22. Jiraporn, Pornsit & Chatjuthamard, Pattanaporn & Tong, Shenghui & Kim, Young Sang, 2015. "Does corporate governance influence corporate risk-taking? Evidence from the Institutional Shareholders Services (ISS)," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 13(C), pages 105-112.
    23. Eric Talley, 2009. "Going-Private Decisions and the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002: A Cross-Country Analysis," The Journal of Law, Economics, and Organization, Oxford University Press, vol. 25(1), pages 107-133, May.
    24. Jiraporn, Pornsit & Kim, Jang-Chul & Kim, Young Sang & Kitsabunnarat, Pattanaporn, 2012. "Capital structure and corporate governance quality: Evidence from the Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS)," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 22(1), pages 208-221.
    25. Benartzi, Shlomo & Michaely, Roni & Thaler, Richard H, 1997. "Do Changes in Dividends Signal the Future or the Past?," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 52(3), pages 1007-1034, July.
    26. DeAngelo, Harry & DeAngelo, Linda & Skinner, Douglas J., 2004. "Are dividends disappearing? Dividend concentration and the consolidation of earnings," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 72(3), pages 425-456, June.
    27. Sharma, Vineeta, 2011. "Independent directors and the propensity to pay dividends," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 17(4), pages 1001-1015, September.
    28. Christine Brown & John Handley & James O'Day, 2015. "The Dividend Substitution Hypothesis: Australian Evidence," Abacus, Accounting Foundation, University of Sydney, vol. 51(1), pages 37-62, March.
    29. Fama, Eugene F & Jensen, Michael C, 1983. "Separation of Ownership and Control," Journal of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 26(2), pages 301-325, June.
    30. Julia Sawicki, 2009. "Corporate governance and dividend policy in Southeast Asia pre- and post-crisis," The European Journal of Finance, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 15(2), pages 211-230.
    31. Michael S. Rozeff, 1982. "Growth, Beta And Agency Costs As Determinants Of Dividend Payout Ratios," Journal of Financial Research, Southern Finance Association;Southwestern Finance Association, vol. 5(3), pages 249-259, September.
    32. DeAngelo, Harry & DeAngelo, Linda & Stulz, Rene M., 2006. "Dividend policy and the earned/contributed capital mix: a test of the life-cycle theory," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 81(2), pages 227-254, August.
    33. Katherine Guthrie & Jan Sokolowsky & Kam‐Ming Wan, 2012. "CEO Compensation and Board Structure Revisited," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 67(3), pages 1149-1168, June.
    34. Lee Pinkowitz & Rohan Williamson & René M. Stulz, 2007. "Cash Holdings, Dividend Policy, and Corporate Governance: A Cross‐Country Analysis," Journal of Applied Corporate Finance, Morgan Stanley, vol. 19(1), pages 81-87, January.
    35. Mitton, Todd, 2004. "Corporate governance and dividend policy in emerging markets," Emerging Markets Review, Elsevier, vol. 5(4), pages 409-426, December.
    36. Ai, Chunrong & Norton, Edward C., 2003. "Interaction terms in logit and probit models," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 80(1), pages 123-129, July.
    37. Lixiong Guo & Patrick Lach & Shawn Mobbs, 2015. "Tradeoffs between Internal and External Governance: Evidence from Exogenous Regulatory Shocks," Financial Management, Financial Management Association International, vol. 44(1), pages 81-114, March.
    38. Jensen, Gerald R. & Solberg, Donald P. & Zorn, Thomas S., 1992. "Simultaneous Determination of Insider Ownership, Debt, and Dividend Policies," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 27(2), pages 247-263, June.
    39. Easterbrook, Frank H, 1984. "Two Agency-Cost Explanations of Dividends," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 74(4), pages 650-659, September.
    40. Sanford J. Grossman & Oliver D. Hart, 1980. "Takeover Bids, the Free-Rider Problem, and the Theory of the Corporation," Bell Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 11(1), pages 42-64, Spring.
    41. Chae, Joon & Kim, Sungmin & Lee, Eun Jung, 2009. "How corporate governance affects payout policy under agency problems and external financing constraints," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 33(11), pages 2093-2101, November.
    42. Oskar Kowalewski & Ivan Stetsyuk & Oleksandr Talavera, 2008. "Does corporate governance determine dividend payouts in Poland?," Post-Communist Economies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 20(2), pages 203-218.
    43. Pornsit Jiraporn & Jang‐Chul Kim & Young Sang Kim, 2011. "Dividend Payouts and Corporate Governance Quality: An Empirical Investigation," The Financial Review, Eastern Finance Association, vol. 46(2), pages 251-279, May.
    44. Leuz, Christian & Triantis, Alexander & Yue Wang, Tracy, 2008. "Why do firms go dark? Causes and economic consequences of voluntary SEC deregistrations," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 45(2-3), pages 181-208, August.
    45. Larry H. P. Lang & Mara Faccio & Leslie Young, 2001. "Dividends and Expropriation," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 91(1), pages 54-78, March.
    46. Hu, Aidong & Kumar, Praveen, 2004. "Managerial Entrenchment and Payout Policy," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 39(4), pages 759-790, December.
    47. J. Hobbs & M. I. Schneller, 2012. "Dividend signalling and sustainability," Applied Financial Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 22(17), pages 1395-1408, September.
    48. Officer, Micah S., 2011. "Overinvestment, corporate governance, and dividend initiations," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 17(3), pages 710-724, June.
    49. James S. Linck & Jeffry M. Netter & Tina Yang, 2009. "The Effects and Unintended Consequences of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act on the Supply and Demand for Directors," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 22(8), pages 3287-3328, August.
    50. Pandej Chintrakarn & Pornsit Jiraporn & Young Kim & Jang-Chul Kim, 2015. "Does corporate governance quality affect analyst coverage? Evidence from the Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS)," Applied Economics Letters, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 22(4), pages 312-317, March.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Chatjuthamard, Pattanaporn & Singh, Simran & Jiraporn, Pornsit & Lee, Sang Mook, 2024. "Climate change exposure, shareholder wealth, and the adoption of the Paris agreement: A text-based approach," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 94(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. 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.
    2. Paul Tanyi & David B. Smith & Xiaoyan Cheng, 2021. "Does firm payout policy affect shareholders’ dissatisfaction with directors?," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 57(1), pages 279-320, July.
    3. Sun, Liang & Yu, Huaibing, 2022. "The effects of busy board on firm’s probability to pay dividends," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 60(C).
    4. Qurat Ul Ain & Xianghui Yuan & Hafiz Mustansar Javaid & Jinkai Zhao & Li Xiang, 2021. "Board Gender Diversity and Dividend Policy in Chinese Listed Firms," SAGE Open, , vol. 11(1), pages 21582440219, February.
    5. Hui Liang James & Hongxia Wang, 2021. "Independent director tenure and dividends," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 48(5-6), pages 1057-1091, May.
    6. Seyed Alireza Athari, 2021. "The effects of institutional settings and risks on bank dividend policy in an emerging market: Evidence from Tobit model," International Journal of Finance & Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 26(3), pages 4493-4515, July.
    7. 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.
    8. James, Hui & Benson, Bradley W. & Wu, Chen (Ken), 2017. "Does CEO ownership affect payout policy? Evidence from using CEO scaled wealth-performance sensitivity," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 65(C), pages 328-345.
    9. Gyimah, Daniel & Gyapong, Ernest, 2021. "Managerial entrenchment and payout policy: A catering effect," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 73(C).
    10. Bradley Benson & Travis Davidson & Hui James & Hongxia Wang, 2022. "Board busyness and corporate payout: are all busy directors the same?," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 62(3), pages 3711-3759, September.
    11. Booth, Laurence & Zhou, Jun, 2017. "Dividend policy: A selective review of results from around the world," Global Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 34(C), pages 1-15.
    12. Renneboog, Luc & Szilagyi, Peter G., 2020. "How relevant is dividend policy under low shareholder protection?," Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, Elsevier, vol. 64(C).
    13. Ernest Gyapong & Ammad Ahmed & Collins G Ntim & Muhammad Nadeem, 2021. "Board gender diversity and dividend policy in Australian listed firms: the effect of ownership concentration," Asia Pacific Journal of Management, Springer, vol. 38(2), pages 603-643, June.
    14. Anneleen Michiels & Wim Voordeckers & Nadine Lybaert & Tensie Steijvers, 2015. "Dividends and family governance practices in private family firms," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 44(2), pages 299-314, February.
    15. Florackis, Chris & Kanas, Angelos & Kostakis, Alexandros, 2015. "Dividend policy, managerial ownership and debt financing: A non-parametric perspective," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 241(3), pages 783-795.
    16. Smith, Deborah Drummond & Pennathur, Anita K. & Marciniak, Marek R., 2017. "Why do CEOs agree to the discipline of dividends?," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 52(C), pages 38-48.
    17. Hasan, Mostafa Monzur & Uddin, Mohammad Riaz, 2022. "Do intangibles matter for corporate policies? Evidence from organization capital and corporate payout choices," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 135(C).
    18. Madhur Bhatia & Rachita Gulati, 2022. "Are boards ‘substitute’ or ‘complement’ dividend payout? Econometric evidence for Indian banks," Economic Notes, Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena SpA, vol. 51(2), July.
    19. Lepetit, L. & Meslier, C. & Strobel, F. & Wardhana, L., 2018. "Bank dividends, agency costs and shareholder and creditor rights," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 56(C), pages 93-111.
    20. He, Wen & Ng, Lilian & Zaiats, Nataliya & Zhang, Bohui, 2017. "Dividend policy and earnings management across countries," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 42(C), pages 267-286.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Dividends; Board independence; Independent directors; Corporate governance; Payout policy;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • G34 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - Mergers; Acquisitions; Restructuring; Corporate Governance
    • G35 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - Payout Policy

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:ecofin:v:63:y:2022:i:c:s1062940822001711. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/inca/620163 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.