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The Global Financial Crisis, Family Control, and Dividend Policy
Author(s) -
Attig Najah,
Boubakri Narjess,
El Ghoul Sadok,
Guedhami Omrane
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
financial management
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.647
H-Index - 68
eISSN - 1755-053X
pISSN - 0046-3892
DOI - 10.1111/fima.12115
Subject(s) - incentive , financial crisis , dividend policy , dividend , control (management) , business , monetary economics , dividend payout ratio , hysteresis , financial system , finance , economics , market economy , macroeconomics , physics , management , quantum mechanics
Using newly collected data on the ultimate ownership structure of publicly traded firms in nine East Asian economies, we find that family control is negatively related to the dividend payout ratio. Family firms are less (more) likely to increase (omit) dividends than non‐family firms. These negative associations between family firms and dividend policy are more pronounced during the recent global financial crisis, suggesting that controlling families have incentives to expropriate more firm resources during crises than in normal times.