Dividend policies across multinational and domestic corporations – an international study

This study examines whether the determinants of dividend payout ratios between Multinational ( MC s) and Domestic corporations ( DC s) vary across Australia, U.S., Japan, U.K. and Malaysia. Results show: (i) Australian, UK and Malaysian MC s pay significantly less dividends than their Domestic counterparts; however, the opposite holds for the U.S. firms; (ii) the factors that significantly explain the difference between DC s’ and MC s’ payout ratios vary across countries; (iii) firms operating in an imputation tax system and in a common law environment pay comparatively higher dividends relative to firms operating in a classical tax system and civil law regime.