A behavioral perspective on corporate dividend policy: evidence from France

2019 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
pp. 102-119 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dhoha Trabelsi ◽  
Saqib Aziz ◽  
Jean-Jacques Lilti
Keyword(s):  
Dividend Policy ◽  
Family Firms ◽  
Investor Sentiment ◽  
Large Data ◽  
Payout Policy ◽  
High Concentration ◽  
Data Set ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Family Control ◽  
Managerial Opportunism

PurposeThis paper empirically examines the catering theory of Baker and Wurgler (2004) in the particular context of France. Considering the characteristics of French market – known for its high concentration of capital – it attempts to highlight the role family control plays in the managerial tendencies to satisfy non-informative dividend demands.Design/methodology/approachThe paper focuses on a large data set of French firms included in the SBF-250 index over a period of 1992-2010. It uses a variety of dividend policy measures, including dividend premium, percentage of dividend-paying firms and probability of paying dividends. It adopts appropriate empirical specifications (time-series and probit models) to substantiate the research hypotheses.FindingsThe empirical findings show that the percentage of payers rises with the dividend premium, and that the dividend premium and the confidence index of French households are negatively correlated. This reflects the sensitivity of dividend demand to investor sentiment. Moreover, results of multivariate panel regression show a positive and statistically significant effect of the dividend premium on the firm’s tendency to pay, after controlling for firm characteristics. Finally, it finds that the dividend premium effect disappears in the case of family-controlled firms. This result is in line with the long-term orientation of family firms.Research limitations/implicationsThe study focuses on the dividend payment behavior of French firms. Although dividends are deeply engrained in France, authors believe that it will be interesting to look at the whole payout policy and particularly the role played by share repurchases.Practical implicationsAddressing short-term catering and managerial opportunism, the results of this study may be of interest for shareholders, potential investors and regulators.Originality/valueTo the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study that provides empirical evidence on Baker and Wurgler (2004) catering theory by considering the particularity of French market where, unlike the US, percentage of dividend-paying firms is high and the corporate ownership structures are different.

Does family involvement foster IPO value? Empirical analysis on Italian stock market

2015 ◽  
Vol 53 (5) ◽  
pp. 1125-1154 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alessandro Cirillo ◽  
Mauro Romano ◽  
Otello Ardovino
Keyword(s):  
Initial Public Offering ◽  
Family Involvement ◽  
Family Firms ◽  
Current Knowledge ◽  
Family Firm ◽  
Data Set ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Family Control ◽  
Long Run ◽  
Italian Context

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to shed light on the relationship between family involvement and Initial Public Offering (IPO) value in the Italian context. Design/methodology/approach – Based on a unique hand-collected data set, the authors test the hypotheses on companies that went public between 2000 and 2011, making inference on 113 firms using OLS hierarchical regressions. The authors quantify the IPO value from an outside investors’ perspective with two measures to proxy for IPO value in the short-term and apply robustness checks for long-run performance. In a stewardship framework, the authors examine demographic variables including family firm status, family involvement in managerial positions and family generations. Findings – The results suggest that family firm status positively influences IPO value, that greater family involvement corresponds to higher IPO value and lastly, that the beneficial effect of family control is mainly attributable to the first generation. The results are robust to alternative specifications of each phenomenon. Research limitations/implications – As a single-country study, the results refer exclusively to the Italian context and thus the evidence provided may not automatically be generalized to IPOs of comparable equity markets. Originality/value – This study expands current knowledge by showing how investors “price” family ownership in an IPO; furthermore the authors assess how certain characteristics of family firms affect the IPOs (e.g. family involvement and intergenerational).

The impact of uncertainty on payout policy

2016 ◽  
Vol 42 (11) ◽  
pp. 1054-1072 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brian Walkup
Keyword(s):  
Cash Flow ◽  
Large Data ◽  
Cash Flows ◽  
Payout Policy ◽  
Market Uncertainty ◽  
Policy Decisions ◽  
Firm Level ◽  
Data Set ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Impact

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate the impact of market-level uncertainty on dividend and repurchase decisions. Design/methodology/approach Using a large data set over a nearly 50-year period, the author examines the choice to pay dividends and repurchase shares using logit and multinomial logit regressions. Findings Market-level uncertainty (measured by a GARCH estimate of volatility, as well as the Chicago Board Options Exchange Volatility Index) is shown to have a statistically significant impact on firms’ payout policy decisions. This impact is different for dividends and repurchases as well as for firms with differing levels of cash flows. As market uncertainty increases, firms with low cash flow levels tighten dividend policy to conserve cash while firms with high cash flow levels become opportunistic through the use of share repurchases. Practical implications The findings allow investors to better understand the connection between shifts in market-level uncertainty and corporate payout policy, specifically through the differing use of dividends and repurchases. Originality/value While prior literature on payout policy has focused on firm-level determinants, this study demonstrates that market-level uncertainty impacts firms’ payout policy decisions uniquely. Furthermore, this is, to the author’s knowledge, the first study to differentiate by relative cash flow level, demonstrating that not all cash flow levels react in the same manner.

Investor sentiment and share returns: evidence on family firms

2016 ◽  
Vol 29 (1) ◽  
pp. 65-83 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elisabete F. Simões Vieira
Keyword(s):  
Family Firms ◽  
Negative Relationship ◽  
Investor Sentiment ◽  
High Concentration ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Growth Firms ◽  
Directorate General ◽  
Using Data ◽  
Finance Theory ◽  
The Relationship

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine the effect of investor sentiment on share returns, exploring whether this effect is different for public family and non-family firms. Design/methodology/approach The author uses the European Economic Sentiment Indicator data, from Directorate General for Economic and Financial Affairs as a proxy for investor sentiment and focused on the share returns of family and non-family firms, using panel data methodology. Findings Using data from listed family and non-family firms for the period between 1999 and 2011, in accordance with behavioural finance theory, the results indicate that there is a negative relationship between sentiment and share returns. In addition, the author found no difference between family and non-family firms in what concerns the effect of sentiment on share returns. The evidence also suggests that young, large and medium growth firms are most affected by sentiment. Finally, the results suggest that the evidence concerning the relationship between sentiment and returns is sensitive to the proxy used to measure the sentiment. Research limitations/implications A limitation of this study is the small size of the sample, which is due to the small size of the Portuguese stock market, the Euronext Lisbon. Originality/value This paper offers some insights into the effect of investor sentiment on the share returns in the context of public family firms, a strand of finance that is scarcely developed. It also contributes to the analysis of a small European country, with a high concentration of equity ownership.

Innovation in family firms – a generational perspective

2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 126-148 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sebastian Hillebrand
Keyword(s):  
Structural Equation ◽  
Family Firms ◽  
Family Firm ◽  
Family Influence ◽  
Family Management ◽  
Community Innovation Survey ◽  
Firm Innovation ◽  
Data Set ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Family Control

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to clarify the generation–innovation relationship in family firms. The study acknowledges that the degree of family influence on a firm varies over generations and tests if the generation–innovation relationship is affected by two defining characteristics of family influence (family management and intention to transfer family control). Based on recent research that deconstructed a family’s influence, this paper seeks to contribute to disentangling the ambivalent findings on family firm innovation. Design/methodology/approach The study draws on the Community Innovation Survey and analyzes a comprehensive data set of German family firms. The analysis builds on a structural equation model and tests if the two defining characteristics of family influence serve as mediators in the generation–innovation relationship. Findings The study suggests that family firms raise their innovation output over generations. Yet, a considerable fraction of the increase occurs via indirect paths – particularly via the intent to transfer family control to succeeding generations. The results indicate that increased family influence has positive and negative effects on innovation, reinforcing the need for careful application of the family firm definition. Research limitations/implications The sample is exclusively composed of German firms and the generalizability of the findings is limited. Future researchers may also overcome further limitations related to the survey data used. Practical implications The results urge family firm leaders to recognize the vital role of succession planning and non-family management involvement in an innovation context. Originality/value The study deconstructs the varying degree of family influence over generations and adds to the fields of family firm innovation, family firm definitions and typologies.

User password repetitive patterns analysis and visualization

2016 ◽  
Vol 24 (1) ◽  
pp. 93-115 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiaoying Yu ◽  
Qi Liao
Keyword(s):  
Security Policy ◽  
Large Data ◽  
Efficient Algorithms ◽  
Privacy And Security ◽  
Data Set ◽  
Web Based ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Word Cloud ◽  
Individual Privacy ◽  
Password Security

Purpose – Passwords have been designed to protect individual privacy and security and widely used in almost every area of our life. The strength of passwords is therefore critical to the security of our systems. However, due to the explosion of user accounts and increasing complexity of password rules, users are struggling to find ways to make up sufficiently secure yet easy-to-remember passwords. This paper aims to investigate whether there are repetitive patterns when users choose passwords and how such behaviors may affect us to rethink password security policy. Design/methodology/approach – The authors develop a model to formalize the password repetitive problem and design efficient algorithms to analyze the repeat patterns. To help security practitioners to analyze patterns, the authors design and implement a lightweight, Web-based visualization tool for interactive exploration of password data. Findings – Through case studies on a real-world leaked password data set, the authors demonstrate how the tool can be used to identify various interesting patterns, e.g. shorter substrings of the same type used to make up longer strings, which are then repeated to make up the final passwords, suggesting that the length requirement of password policy does not necessarily increase security. Originality/value – The contributions of this study are two-fold. First, the authors formalize the problem of password repetitive patterns by considering both short and long substrings and in both directions, which have not yet been considered in past. Efficient algorithms are developed and implemented that can analyze various repeat patterns quickly even in large data set. Second, the authors design and implement four novel visualization views that are particularly useful for exploration of password repeat patterns, i.e. the character frequency charts view, the short repeat heatmap view, the long repeat parallel coordinates view and the repeat word cloud view.

The impact of board composition and ownership structure on dividend payout policy: evidence from Saudi Arabia

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Helmi A. Boshnak
Keyword(s):  
Saudi Arabia ◽  
Ownership Structure ◽  
Dividend Policy ◽  
Payout Policy ◽  
Board Composition ◽  
Dividend Payout ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Listed Firms ◽  
Propensity To Pay ◽  
The Impact

PurposeThis study examines the impact of board composition and ownership structure variables on dividend payout policy in Saudi Arabian firms. In particular, it aims to determine the effect of board size, independence and meeting frequency, in addition to chief executive officer (CEO) duality, and state, institutional, managerial, family, and foreign ownership on both the propensity to pay dividends and dividend per share for Saudi-listed firms over the period 2016–2019.Design/methodology/approachThe paper captures dividend policy with two measures, propensity to pay dividends and dividend per share, and employs a range of regression methods (logistic, probit, ordinary least squares (OLS) and random effects regressions) along with a two-stage least squares (2SLS) model for robustness to account for heteroscedasticity, serial correlation and endogeneity issues. The data set is a large panel of 280 Saudi-listed firms over the period 2016 to 2019.FindingsThe results underline the importance of board composition and the ownership structure in explaining variations in dividend policy across Saudi firms. More specifically, there is a positive relationship between the propensity to pay dividends and board-meeting frequency, institutional ownership, firm profitability and firm age, while the degree of board independence, firm size and leverage exhibit a negative relation. Further, dividend per share is positively related to board meeting frequency, institutional ownership, foreign ownership, firm profitability and age, while it is negatively related to CEO duality, managerial ownership, and firm leverage. There is no evidence that family ownership exerts an impact on dividend payout policy in Saudi firms. The findings of this study support agency, signalling, substitute and outcome theories of dividend policy.Research limitations/implicationsThis study offers an important insight into the board characteristic and ownership structure drivers of dividend policy in the context of an emerging market. Moreover, the study has important implications for firms, managers, investors, policymakers, and regulators in Saudi Arabia.Originality/valueThis paper contributes to the existing literature by providing evidence on four board and five ownership characteristic drivers of dividend policy in Saudi Arabia as an emerging stock market, thereby improving on less comprehensive previous studies. The study recommends that investors consider board composition and ownership structure characteristics of firms as key drivers of dividend policy when making stock investment decisions to inform them about the propensity of investee firms to pay dividends and maintain a given dividend policy.

The relationship between risk, capital and efficiency in Indian banking: Does ownership matter?

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 218-231
Author(s):  
Sanjukta Sarkar ◽  
Rudra Sensarma ◽  
Dipasha Sharma
Keyword(s):  
Public Sector ◽  
Credit Risk ◽  
Large Data ◽  
Foreign Banks ◽  
Risk Capital ◽  
Lower Efficiency ◽  
Data Set ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Balance Sheets ◽  
Indian Banks

Purpose This paper aims to examine the interplay between risk, capital and efficiency of Indian banks and study how their relationship differs across different ownership types. Design/methodology/approach Panel regression techniques are used to analyze a large data set of all Indian scheduled commercial banks operating during the period 2008-2016. Findings The results show that lower efficiency is associated with higher credit risk in the case of public sector and old private sector banks (”bad management hypothesis”). However, higher efficiency leads to higher credit risk in the case of foreign banks (“cost skimping hypothesis”). The authors further find that the more efficient institutions among public sector hold more capital. Finally, they find that the better-capitalized banks among those in the public sector have lower risks on their balance sheets (“moral hazard hypothesis”). Originality/value There is a paucity of papers on the interplay between risk, capital and efficiency of banks in emerging economies. This paper is the first to study the inter-relationship between risk, capital and efficiency of Indian banks across ownership groups using a number of different measures of risk.

Which professional skills value more under digital transformation?

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sofia Paklina ◽  
Elena Shakina
Keyword(s):  
Text Mining ◽  
Labour Market ◽  
Empirical Evidence ◽  
Labour Force ◽  
Sample Selection ◽  
Large Data ◽  
Hedonic Pricing ◽  
Data Set ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Computing Skills

PurposeThis study seeks to explore the demand side of the labour market influenced by the digital revolution. It aims at identifying the new composition of skills and their value as implicitly manifested by employers when they look for the new labour force. The authors analyse the returns to computing skills based on text mining techniques applied to the job advertisements.Design/methodology/approachThe methodology is based on the hedonic pricing model with the Heckman correction to overcome the sample selection bias. The empirical part is based on a large data set that includes more than 9m online vacancies on one of the biggest job boards in Russia from 2006 to 2018.FindingsEmpirical evidence for both negative and positive returns to computing skills and their monetary values is found. Importantly, the authors also have found both complementary and substitutional effects within and between non-domain (basic) and domain (advanced) subgroups of computing skills.Originality/valueApart from the empirical evidence on the value of professional computing skills and their interrelations, this study provides the important methodological contribution on applying the hedonic procedure and text mining to the field of human resource management and labour market research.

scholarly journals Translating emotional insights from hospitality employees’ comments

2018 ◽  
Vol 32 (1) ◽  
pp. 75-92 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lisa M. Young ◽  
Swapnil Rajendra Gavade
Keyword(s):  
Job Satisfaction ◽  
Sentiment Analysis ◽  
Big Data Analytics ◽  
Large Data ◽  
Hospitality Management ◽  
Data Set ◽  
Employee Survey ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Employee Job Satisfaction ◽  
The Usa

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to use the data analysis method of sentiment analysis to improve the understanding of a large data set of employee comments from an annual employee job satisfaction survey of a US hospitality organization.Design/methodology/approachSentiment analysis is used to examine the employee comments by identifying meaningful patterns, frequently used words and emotions. The statistical computing language, R, uses the sentiment analysis process to scan each employee survey comment, compare the words with the predefined word dictionary and classify the employee comments into the appropriate emotion category.FindingsEmployee responses written in English and in Spanish are compared with significant differences identified between the two groups, triggering further investigation of the Spanish comments. Sentiment analysis was then conducted on the Spanish comments comparing two groups, front-of-house vs back-of-house employees and employees with male supervisors vs female supervisors. Results from the analysis of employee comments written in Spanish point to higher scores for job sadness and anger. The negative comments referred to desires for improved healthcare, requests for increased wages and frustration with difficult supervisor relationships. The findings from this study add to the growing body of literature that has begun to focus on the unique work experiences of Latino employees in the USA.Originality/valueThis is the first study to examine a large unstructured English and Spanish text database from a hospitality organization’s employee job satisfaction surveys using sentiment analysis. Applying this big data analytics process to advance new insights into the human capital aspects of hospitality management is intriguing to many researchers. The results of this study demonstrate an issue that needs to be further investigated particularly considering the hospitality industry’s employee demographics.

High leverage and variance of SMEs performance

2019 ◽  
Vol 20 (2) ◽  
pp. 155-175 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mazen Gharsalli
Keyword(s):  
Firm Performance ◽  
Small Business ◽  
Firm Growth ◽  
Family Firms ◽  
Global Financial Crisis ◽  
Cash Flows ◽  
Data Set ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Good Investment ◽  
The Relationship

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between leverage and firm performance using small business data from France by estimating the effects of leverage on both average firm performance and the variance of firm performance. Design/methodology/approach Focusing on French small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), which tend to be dependent on bank loans, the authors examine the relationship between leverage and firm performance. This study was based on a unique panel data set of more than 2,157 manufacturing SMEs covering the years 2007-2015. The authors estimate the effects of leverage on both average firm performance and the variance of firm performance. Findings Focusing on the average effects of leverage, the authors find that highly leveraged firms suffer from poor performance. In addition, the variance in firm performance is higher if firms are highly leveraged. Results also underline that leveraged firms are better performers when they have sufficient collateral assets. Research limitations/implications The study, however, has also some limitations. The first one is that the findings were obtained for only one industry sector, so attempts should be made to study the issue, as it applies to other sectors as well. Second is the context where the study was conducted. This study has been conducted based on data gathered from SMEs in France within a specific socioeconomic context (2007-2008 global financial crisis), which may also limit the generalizability of the results for different contexts with different socioeconomic situations. It would also be useful, to have a better explanation for the performance of SMEs, to add to the model more financial variables or other types of variables such as those related to managerial skills or to the macro-economic environment. Finally, further research could examine the joint impact of both leverage and ownership structure on firm’s performance as a large number of French firms are family firms. The limitations of this study, however, can in fact be an opportunity for future researchers to conduct studies addressing those limitations. Practical implications This research has some implications for small business lending. SME owners and managers may, on the one hand, be encouraged by the fact that collateral assets can reduce agency costs, thereby positively affecting firm performance. On the other hand, high leverage can facilitate firm growth if firms have collateral assets. This implies that policymakers interested in stimulating SMEs should develop more suitable collaterals for high-risk SMEs with low asset tangibility. Social implications The results also have implications for financial institutions. To prevent unexpected and extensive bankruptcies, banks might classify firms with negative cash flows as borrower in danger of bankruptcy. However, the results show that highly leveraged firms with good investment opportunities and high collateral assets reduce the probability of bankruptcy. This implies that banks need to evaluate the credit risk of very highly leveraged small businesses more carefully. Originality/value It should be noted that the case of France remains marginal in terms of the conducted studies.

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