BỘ GIÁO DỤC VÀ ĐÀO TẠO TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC KINH TÉ THÀNH PHÓ HÒ CHÍ MINH BÁO CÁO TÓNG KẾT ĐÈ TÀI NGHIÊN cứu KHOA HỌC THAM GIA XÉT GIẢI THƯỞNG “NHÀ NGHIÊN CƯU TRẺ UEH” NĂM 2024 BOARD GENDER DIVERSITY, STATE OWNERSHIP AND DIVIDEND PAYOUT POLICY: EMPIRICAL EVIDENCE FROM FIRMS LISTED ON THE HO CHI MINH STOCK EXCHANGE HOSE IN THE PERIOD 2012-2022 Thuộc nhóm chuyên ngành : Tài chính - Ngân hàng TP. Hồ Chí Minh, tháng 02/2024 1 ABSTRACT Dividend payout policy is considered as an important management tool to run a firm. In this study, we examined the impact of board gender diversity and the State ownership ratio on the dividend policy of the firm. This issue has been carefully studied in previous literature but mostly focused on developed markets such as Korea or Spain.
or large emerging markets such as China. Therefore, our study will focus on analyzing the impact in Vietnam - a frontier market that is trying to upgrade to a typical emerging market. Our study uses data from 2012-2022 of 7 8 State ownership firms listed on the HOSE stock exchange to analyze the impact of gender diversity in the board of directors and the State ownership ratio on the dividend policy. We find that the presence of women in the board of directors increases the dividend policy of the firm as women have different and distinctive characteristics such as being more empathetic and risk-averse in financial decisions than men.
In addition, the Stale ownership ratio in the shareholder structure of the firm is also carefully studied by us. Firms with State shareholders owning a higher ratio tend to pay higher dividends than firms with the State only playing the role of a small shareholder. Our study contributes to help firms to plan dividend payout policy that suits the needs of the firm as well as the practical conditions. Keywords: dividend payout policy, board gender diversity, State ownership 2 TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT.
1 LIST OF TABLES. 5 LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS. Object and scope of research. The novelty of research.
The contribution of research. Dividend payout policy. Board gender diversity. Pecking order theory.
Empirical evidence and research hypothesis. The relationship between board gender diversity and firm dividend payout policy. The role of State ownership in deciding to pay dividends at firms. The role of State ownership in moderating the relationship between gender diversity and dividend payout policy in firms.
Limitations in previous studies. Overcoming the limitations of previous studies. Data and sample selection. Independent variable and dummy variable.
Return on assets (ROA). Method of analysis and data processing. Regression methods in previous studies on dividends. Analysis steps and data processing.
Description of variables in the research model. Descriptive statistics and correlation matrix. Test of Multicollinearity. Research results of regression methods.
The impact of a board gender diversity and State ownership on dividend payout policy. The moderating effect of board gender diversity on the relationship between State ownership and the dividend payoutpolicy of firms. Robustness test - The moderating effect of board gender diversity on the relationship between State ownership and the dividend payout policy. CONCLUSION AND RESEARCH IMPLICATION.
Limitation and future orientation. 71 5 LIST OF TABLES Table 3.1: Description of variablesin the model.4: The result of the Pooled Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) regression model.5: Results of FEM and REM regression models.6: The impact of a board gender diversity and State Ownership on dividend payout policy - GMM method.7: The moderating effect of board gender diversity on the relationship between state ownership and dividend payout policy of firms - GMM method .8: Summary of GMM regression results for model (1) and model (2).9: The moderating effect of board gender diversity on the relationship between State ownership and dividend payout policy - Robustness test.1: Summary of research results. 52 6 LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS Abbreviations Meaning BOD Board of Directors A group of emerging economies whose brisk expansion has BRICS outstripped that of more developed markets recently including Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa CEOD The dual role of chairman of the board and CEO DIV/DIVE Dividend payout policy of the firm FEM Fixed Effects Model FGLS Feasible Generalized Least Square GMM Generalized Method of Moments HOSE Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange LEV Financial Leverage OECD Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development POLS The Pooled Ordinary Least Squares REM Random Effects Model ROA Return on Assets ROE Return on Equity SG Revenue growth rate SIZE Firm size SO State ownership SOWN State ownership ratio The proportion of female members in the total number of WO board of directors members Moderating variable: combination of 2 independent variables WOSOWN WO*SOWN 7 1. Research background In the current context, firms tend to empower women, contributing to firm development.
There is a study by Bear et al. (2010) showing that women on the board of directors can improve the reputation of the firm and promote the image of the firm to the public through socially responsible actions. Or in the study on female board members and firm performance by Bennouri et al. (2018) found that female directors significantly increase ROA and ROE of the firm.
From this, it can be seen that female directors have a positive impact on the management issues of the firm. Research studies around the world have found that board gender diversity creates value and provides competitive advantages for firms. Female board members are considered to have a positive impact on the monitoring capabilities of the board, bringing different perspectives and skills, reducing conflicts, and attracting stakeholders. The presence of women in leadership roles also contributes to stronger connections between leaders and employees, leading to increased employee effectiveness and contributing to the firm's development (IFC, 2019).
In the research study by Bruce et al. (2022), positive impacts of women's leadership roles on policy outcomes, such as dividend policy - a corporate governance tool, were found. Recent studies have shown the positive influence of female directors on dividend payout policies in Arms. Alongside that, there are several other studies supporting a positive relationship between the proportion of female members on the board of directors and dividend payout policy, some positive evidence is presented to prove this relationship, for the US market (Benjamin & Biswas, 2019; Byoun et al., 2016; Chen et al., 2017) and Malaysia (Tahir et al.
Furthermore, in the study by Al-Rahahleh (2017), they also showed that board gender diversity not only has a positive trend in dividend payout policy but also contributes to improving the quality of corporate governance. In a previous study by Saeed & Sameer (2017), they found evidence from emerging markets such as India, China and Russia, that board gender diversity is negatively related to cash dividend payments. However, in the study by Chen et al. (2017), they showed that boards with more female members are more likely to pay 8 higher dividends as a firm management tool.
Another perspective was presented in a recent study by Garcia-Meca et al. (2022), which is the inverted U-shaped relationship between female directors and dividend payout policy. For low levels of female representation on the board, dividend payments tend to be positive, but alter a turning point, the relationship becomes negative due to the characteristics associated with women, such as risk aversion or prudence in finance. Another factor that affects the dividend payout policy of the firm is the capital ownership structure in the firm.
Many previous studies have studied the ownership structure for the dividend payout policy of the firm (Short et al., 2002; Lin, Chen & Tsai, 2016). In this study, the authors will focus on examining how the Stale ownership affects the dividend payout policy. How and to what extent does a firm with a certain percentage of shares held by the Stale affect the dividend payout policy? As the study by Lam et al. (2012) showed that firms with high State ownership ratio tend to pay higher cash dividends and lower stock dividends.
In the study by Vu & Le (2021), they argue that because the State is a shareholder, firms with State ownership can encourage the government to increase the value of the firm, so the firm will pay more dividends to shareholders. However, from the perspective of a taxpayer, firms wilh Stale ownership may make decisions that benefit ihe Slate in terms of taxes, resulting in a decrease in the value of the firm, and the dividends paid to shareholders are also affected negatively. The study by Musallam & Lin (2019) found that firms with higher State ownership ratios pay lower dividends. From this, it can be seen that the impact of the Stale ownership on the dividend payout policy can be positive or negative.
From the reasons and perspectives that are somewhat contradictory, the authors will build a model to study more clearly the impact of the factors mentioned on the dividend payout policy of the firms, using data collected from financial reports, annual reports and minutes of shareholders' meetings of the years in the period of consideration of the firms listed on ihe HOSE exchange lo conduct the research. The study is carried out with the topic: “Board Gender Diversity, State Ownership and Dividend Payout Policy: Empirical Evidence from Firms Listed on the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange HOSE in the Period 2012-2022". Research objectives Today, firms tend to provide information about their operational efficiency through dividend payout policy. The dividend payout policy of each firm is influenced by many factors, most of which are from within the firm.
A good governance system will improve the efficiency of resource use and firm performance. Currently, with the contributions of women to the success of firms, this is a topic that receives a lot of attention from researchers. Therefore, board gender diversity - those who directly participate in proposing and planning policy, naturally will have a great impact on the dividend payout policy. In addition, the capital ownership ratio in the firm between individual investors, organizations or State ownership and foreign investors also affects the dividend payout policy planning.
This study focuses on examining the impact of board gender diversity and the State ownership ratio on the dividend policy of the firms listed on the HOSE exchange that have the State as a shareholder. To clarify the research problem, the authors focus on two specific objectives: 1) Determining the proportion of women on the board of directors will change the dividend payout policy. 2) Clarifying the impact of State ownership in a firm on that firm’s dividend payout policy. Research questions To clarify the research objectives, the author poses the following research questions to address: How does board gender diversity affect dividend policy? Is this impact positive or negative? Is there any relationship between the research results and the theoretical basis to determine the role of board gender diversity in dividend payout decisions as well as solving firm problems? 10 How does State ownership affect dividend payout policy? Is there any moderating effect of State ownership on the relationship between board gender diversity and dividend payout policy of the firms? 1.
Research methodology The research topic of the group is based on a fairly common research method, which is quantitative research. This is the main research method of the whole study. Quantitative research is a method of collecting data from the market in the form of statistics and then processing these data using specialized software, thereby drawing accurate conclusions. In this study, the authors use STATA17 - a statistical software to run the model and test the properties of the variables, as well as correct the unwanted problems of the variables, thereby choosing the most suitable regression model for the data and the research object.
The authors will test the hypothesis through three panel data regression methods: Pooled OLS, Fixed Effects Model (FEM) and Random Effects Model (REM) to select the most suitable model for the data.