IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/pacfin/v24y2013icp179-198.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Corporate governance and payout policy: Evidence from Korean business groups

Author

Listed:
  • Hwang, Lee-Seok
  • Kim, Hakkon
  • Park, Kwangwoo
  • Park, Rae Soo

Abstract

Using a unique, comprehensive data set from a survey on corporate governance practices among Korean listed firms, this paper shows that business group (chaebol) firms have overall stronger governance practices but weaker shareholder rights and lower dividend payout ratios than independent firms do. We also find that the adverse effect of chaebol firms' weak shareholder rights on dividend payout ratios appears to exemplify with the onset of the global financial crisis in 2008. In addition, our regression results show that the positive correlation between corporate governance practices and dividend payout ratios is weaker among chaebol firms. Finally, we find that improving corporate governance enhances payout policies over time but is statistically significant only for independent firms. Our results suggest that the entrenched control by chaebol firm owners that stems from their control rights much above the cash flow rights puts less weight on protecting minority shareholders, resulting in smaller distributions of dividend payments.

Suggested Citation

  • Hwang, Lee-Seok & Kim, Hakkon & Park, Kwangwoo & Park, Rae Soo, 2013. "Corporate governance and payout policy: Evidence from Korean business groups," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 24(C), pages 179-198.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:pacfin:v:24:y:2013:i:c:p:179-198
    DOI: 10.1016/j.pacfin.2013.04.006
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0927538X13000371
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.pacfin.2013.04.006?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. Hansen, Lars Peter, 1982. "Large Sample Properties of Generalized Method of Moments Estimators," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 50(4), pages 1029-1054, July.
    2. Klapper, Leora F. & Love, Inessa, 2004. "Corporate governance, investor protection, and performance in emerging markets," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 10(5), pages 703-728, November.
    3. Wurgler, Jeffrey, 2000. "Financial markets and the allocation of capital," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 58(1-2), pages 187-214.
    4. La Porta, Rafael & Florencio Lopez-de-Silanes & Andrei Shleifer & Robert W. Vishny, 1997. "Legal Determinants of External Finance," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 52(3), pages 1131-1150, July.
    5. 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.
    6. Almeida, Heitor & Campello, Murillo & Laranjeira, Bruno & Weisbenner, Scott, 2012. "Corporate Debt Maturity and the Real Effects of the 2007 Credit Crisis," Critical Finance Review, now publishers, vol. 1(1), pages 3-58, January.
    7. Armando Gomes, 2000. "Going Public without Governance: Managerial Reputation Effects," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 55(2), pages 615-646, April.
    8. Rafael La Porta & Florencio Lopez‐De‐Silanes & Andrei Shleifer & Robert Vishny, 2002. "Investor Protection and Corporate Valuation," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 57(3), pages 1147-1170, June.
    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. Zwiebel, Jeffrey, 1996. "Dynamic Capital Structure under Managerial Entrenchment," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 86(5), pages 1197-1215, December.
    11. Campello, Murillo & Graham, John R. & Harvey, Campbell R., 2010. "The real effects of financial constraints: Evidence from a financial crisis," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 97(3), pages 470-487, September.
    12. Bae, Kee-Hong & Baek, Jae-Seung & Kang, Jun-Koo & Liu, Wei-Lin, 2012. "Do controlling shareholders' expropriation incentives imply a link between corporate governance and firm value? Theory and evidence," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 105(2), pages 412-435.
    13. Stewart C. Myers, 2000. "Outside Equity," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 55(3), pages 1005-1037, June.
    14. Lee, Dong Wook & Park, Kyung Suh, 2009. "Does institutional activism increase shareholder wealth? Evidence from spillovers on non-target companies," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 15(4), pages 488-504, September.
    15. Easterbrook, Frank H, 1984. "Two Agency-Cost Explanations of Dividends," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 74(4), pages 650-659, September.
    16. Almeida, Heitor & Park, Sang Yong & Subrahmanyam, Marti G. & Wolfenzon, Daniel, 2011. "The structure and formation of business groups: Evidence from Korean chaebols," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 99(2), pages 447-475, February.
    17. Claessens, Stijn & Djankov, Simeon & Lang, Larry H. P., 2000. "The separation of ownership and control in East Asian Corporations," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 58(1-2), pages 81-112.
    18. 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.
    19. Art Durnev & E. Han Kim, 2005. "To Steal or Not to Steal: Firm Attributes, Legal Environment, and Valuation," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 60(3), pages 1461-1493, June.
    20. Ulrike Malmendier & Geoffrey Tate, 2009. "Superstar CEOs," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 124(4), pages 1593-1638.
    21. Alberto Abadie & David Drukker & Jane Leber Herr & Guido W. Imbens, 2004. "Implementing matching estimators for average treatment effects in Stata," Stata Journal, StataCorp LP, vol. 4(3), pages 290-311, September.
    22. Lee, Sangwoo & Park, Kwangwoo & Shin, Hyun-Han, 2009. "Disappearing internal capital markets: Evidence from diversified business groups in Korea," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 33(2), pages 326-334, February.
    23. Byun, Hae-Young & Hwang, Lee-Seok & Lee, Woo-Jong, 2011. "How does ownership concentration exacerbate information asymmetry among equity investors?," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 19(5), pages 511-534, November.
    24. 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.
    25. repec:bla:jfinan:v:53:y:1998:i:6:p:2107-2137 is not listed on IDEAS
    26. Black, Bernard & Kim, Woochan, 2012. "The effect of board structure on firm value: A multiple identification strategies approach using Korean data," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 104(1), pages 203-226.
    27. Barber, Brad M. & Lyon, John D., 1996. "Detecting abnormal operating performance: The empirical power and specification of test statistics," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 41(3), pages 359-399, July.
    28. 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.
    29. Sanjeev Bhojraj & Partha Sengupta, 2003. "Effect of Corporate Governance on Bond Ratings and Yields: The Role of Institutional Investors and Outside Directors," The Journal of Business, University of Chicago Press, vol. 76(3), pages 455-476, July.
    30. 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.
    31. Alberto Abadie & Guido W. Imbens, 2006. "Large Sample Properties of Matching Estimators for Average Treatment Effects," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 74(1), pages 235-267, January.
    32. Bernard S. Black & Hasung Jang & Woochan Kim, 2006. "Does Corporate Governance Predict Firms' Market Values? Evidence from Korea," The Journal of Law, Economics, and Organization, Oxford University Press, vol. 22(2), pages 366-413, October.
    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. Chun, Hong-min, 2019. "CEO pay disparity, chaebol affiliations, and implied cost of equity capital," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 31(C).
    2. Choi, Yoon K. & Han, Seung Hun & Kwon, Yonghyun, 2024. "Relative performance evaluation with business group affiliation as a source of common risk," Global Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 60(C).
    3. Bereskin, Frederick L. & Kim, Bushik & Oh, Frederick Dongchuhl, 2015. "Do credit rating concerns lead to better corporate governance? Evidence from Korea," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 35(PB), pages 592-608.
    4. Flavin, Thomas & O'Connor, Thomas, 2017. "Reputation building and the lifecycle model of dividends," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 46(PA), pages 177-190.
    5. Yong-Shik Kim, 2023. "The Association between Voluntary Carbon Disclosure and Accounting Comparability: Examining the Moderating Effect of Korean Business Groups," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(6), pages 1-17, March.
    6. Dang-Khoa Duong & Thi Thanh-Phuong Phan & Kim-Hung Pho & Michael McAleer, 2020. "Impact of Board Characteristics and State Ownership on Dividend Policy in Vietnam," Advances in Decision Sciences, Asia University, Taiwan, vol. 24(4), pages 1-34, December.
    7. Thomas J.Flavin & Abhinav Goyal & Thomas O'Connor, 2020. "Role of corporate governance and lifecycle in determining payout precommitment in an emerging economy," Economics Department Working Paper Series n297-20.pdf, Department of Economics, National University of Ireland - Maynooth.
    8. Thomas Flavin & Abhinav Goyal & Thomas O'Connor, 2021. "Corporate governance, life cycle, and payout precommitment: An emerging market study," Journal of Financial Research, Southern Finance Association;Southwestern Finance Association, vol. 44(1), pages 179-209, April.
    9. Ducret, Romain & Isakov, Dušan, 2023. "Business group heterogeneity and firm outcomes: Evidence from Korean chaebols," FSES Working Papers 531, Faculty of Economics and Social Sciences, University of Freiburg/Fribourg Switzerland.
    10. LIN, Dan & KUO, Hsien-Chang & WANG, Lie-Huey, 2016. "Analysis Of The Relationship Between Disclosure Quality And Dividend Payouts From The Agency Theory Perspective," Studii Financiare (Financial Studies), Centre of Financial and Monetary Research "Victor Slavescu", vol. 20(1), pages 6-20.
    11. Okechukwu Enyeribe Njoku & Younghwan Lee, 2024. "Revisiting the Effect of Dividend Policy on Firm Performance and Value: Empirical Evidence from the Korean Market," IJFS, MDPI, vol. 12(1), pages 1-36, February.
    12. Hyunjung Choi & Jungeun Cho, 2021. "Related-Party Transactions, Chaebol Affiliations, and the Value of Cash Holdings," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(2), pages 1-13, January.
    13. Lee, Sang-Yeob & Hong, Woo-Hyung, 2020. "Does tax really matter for corporate payout policy: Evidence from a policy experiment in South Korea," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 62(C).
    14. Olfa Ben Salah & Anis Jarboui, 2023. "Impact of Dividend Policy on Earnings Management and The Moderating Effect of The Board of Directors and The Audit Committees: The French Case," Journal of Accounting and Management Information Systems, Faculty of Accounting and Management Information Systems, The Bucharest University of Economic Studies, vol. 22(3), pages 408-427, September.
    15. Choi, Hyunjung & Cho, Jungeun, 2021. "Related-party transactions and post-earnings announcement drift: Evidence from the Korean stock market," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 42(C).
    16. Ali Amin & Rizwan Ali & Ramiz ur Rehman, 2022. "Cost Stickiness, Firm’s Dividend Payouts, and Family Ownership," Lahore Journal of Economics, Department of Economics, The Lahore School of Economics, vol. 27(1), pages 116-133, Jan-June.
    17. Mulyani, Evy & Singh, Harminder & Mishra, Sagarika, 2016. "Dividends, leverage, and family ownership in the emerging Indonesian market," Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, Elsevier, vol. 43(C), pages 16-29.
    18. Kang, Sanggyu & Chung, Chune Young & Kim, Dong-Soon, 2019. "The effect of institutional blockholders' short-termism on firm innovation: Evidence from the Korean market," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 57(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. Connelly, J. Thomas & Limpaphayom, Piman & Nagarajan, Nandu J., 2012. "Form versus substance: The effect of ownership structure and corporate governance on firm value in Thailand," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 36(6), pages 1722-1743.
    2. Attig, Najah & El Ghoul, Sadok & Guedhami, Omrane & Zheng, Xiaolan, 2021. "Dividends and economic policy uncertainty: International evidence," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 66(C).
    3. Mitton, Todd, 2004. "Corporate governance and dividend policy in emerging markets," Emerging Markets Review, Elsevier, vol. 5(4), pages 409-426, December.
    4. Dan Yang & Linyin Cheng & Guojun Wang & Yuetang Wang & Lu Zhang, 2020. "Investor protection and cost of debt: Evidence from dividend commitment in firm bylaws," Corporate Governance: An International Review, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 28(5), pages 294-308, September.
    5. Liu, Chunyan & Uchida, Konari & Yang, Yufeng, 2014. "Controlling shareholder, split-share structure reform and cash dividend payments in China," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 29(C), pages 339-357.
    6. Lee, Sangwon, 2022. "The value of official business group affiliation: Evidence from a change in Korean chaebol designation policy," Emerging Markets Review, Elsevier, vol. 52(C).
    7. Gugler, Klaus & Yurtoglu, B. Burcin, 2003. "Corporate governance and dividend pay-out policy in Germany," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 47(4), pages 731-758, August.
    8. Ricardo N. Bebczuk, 2005. "Corporate Governance and Ownership: Measurement and Impact on Corporate Performance and Dividend Policies in Argentina," Research Department Publications 3212, Inter-American Development Bank, Research Department.
    9. 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.
    10. Isakov, Dušan & Weisskopf, Jean-Philippe, 2015. "Pay-out policies in founding family firms," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 33(C), pages 330-344.
    11. 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).
    12. Yasuharu Aoki, 2014. "How Does the Largest Shareholder Affect Dividends?," International Review of Finance, International Review of Finance Ltd., vol. 14(4), pages 613-645, December.
    13. Isakov, Dusan & Weisskopf, Jean-Philippe, 2013. "Do not wake sleeping dogs: Pay-out policies in founding family firms," FSES Working Papers 443, Faculty of Economics and Social Sciences, University of Freiburg/Fribourg Switzerland.
    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. Byrne, Julie & O’Connor, Thomas, 2017. "Creditor rights, culture and dividend payout policy," Journal of Multinational Financial Management, Elsevier, vol. 39(C), pages 60-77.
    16. Oded Cohen, 2020. "Measuring Corporate Governance Quality in Concentrated-Ownership Firms," Bank of Israel Working Papers 2020.06, Bank of Israel.
    17. Anzhela Knyazeva & Diana Knyazeva, 2012. "Product Market Competition and Shareholder Rights: International Evidence," European Financial Management, European Financial Management Association, vol. 18(4), pages 663-694, September.
    18. Claessens, Stijn & Yurtoglu, B. Burcin, 2013. "Corporate governance in emerging markets: A survey," Emerging Markets Review, Elsevier, vol. 15(C), pages 1-33.
    19. 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.
    20. Jorge Andrés Munoz Mendoza & Sandra María Sepúlveda Yelpo & Carmen Lissette Veloso Ramos, 2018. "Effects of Corporate Policies and Governance Practices on Ownership Structure: Evidence from Chilean Firms," Revista Finanzas y Politica Economica, Universidad Católica de Colombia, vol. 10(2), pages 269-286, November.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Dividends; Payout policies; Corporate governance; Business group;
    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:pacfin:v:24:y:2013:i:c:p:179-198. 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/pacfin .

    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.