The Structure of Ownership and Cash Flows as Determinants of Corporate Dividend Policy: Evidence from Pakistan

Dividend Policy is among the widely addressed topics in modern financial literature. The inconclusiveness of the theories on importance of dividend in determining firm’s value has made it one of the most debatable topics for the researchers (see for example, Ramcharan, 2010; Frankfurter et.al 2011; Al-Malkawi, 2014).The present study investigates the impact of firm specific characteristics on corporate dividend behavior in emerging economy of Pakistan. Three years data (2012-2015) of 100 companies listed at Karachi Stock Exchange (KSE) has been analyzed using Ordinary Least Square (OLS) regression. The results show that managerial and individual ownership, cash flow sensitivity, size and leverage are negatively whereas, operating cash-flow and profitability are positively related to cash dividend. Managerial ownership, individual ownership, operating cash flow and size are the most significant determinants of dividend behavior whereas, leverage and cash flow sensitivity do not contribute significantly in determining the level of corporate dividend payment in the firms studied in our sample. Estimated results are robust to alternative proxy of dividend behavior i.e. dividend intensity.