Female directors, the institutional environment and dividend policy: evidence from ASEAN-5 commercial banks
Studies in Economics and Finance
ISSN: 1086-7376
Article publication date: 8 May 2023
Issue publication date: 22 August 2023
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to investigate the impact of female directors on the dividend policies of 96 ASEAN-5 listed commercial banks between 2015 and 2020.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper developed an econometric model to assess the impact of female directors on the banks’ dividend policies. This paper regressed the payout variable on the female director, legal (institutional environment) variables and several control variables. This paper also considered the interaction between the female and legal variables to assess the moderating impact of the institutional environment.
Findings
This paper found that female directors positively affected dividend policy and that banks with female directors tended to pay dividends to balance stakeholders’ interests, especially for the minority. This paper also found that the influence of female directors was weaker in countries with strong institutional environments because greater legal protection for shareholders reinforced or replaced corporate governance mechanisms.
Originality/value
To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study to investigate gender diversity and its impact on dividend policy using data from ASEAN-5 countries.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
The authors thank Professor Paresh Narayan (the SEF guest editor), Dongmin Kong (the BMEB conference discussant), an anonymous reviewer, and all of the participants and the committee of The 16th BMEB International Conference and Call for Papers 2022 held by Bank Indonesia Institute. All errors remain with them.
Citation
Syahfitri, A.R. and Risfandy, T. (2023), "Female directors, the institutional environment and dividend policy: evidence from ASEAN-5 commercial banks", Studies in Economics and Finance, Vol. 40 No. 4, pp. 591-605. https://doi.org/10.1108/SEF-12-2022-0568
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
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