Abstract:
At the turn of the twenty-first century, the collapse of well-known
companies all over the world has been identified as a result of governance
malpractices and exposing the inevitability of good corporate governance.
Dividends are the most effective way to resolve agency conflicts and increase
shareholder wealth. As a result, the composition of corporate boards and
dividend payout policies are contentious issues in emerging markets,
particularly in Asian countries. Furthermore, existing empirical studies
conclude that a company's dividend distribution policies are influenced by
board characteristics in a mixed manner. Thus, the aim of this paper was to
investigate the impact of board attributes on the dividend policy of listed
companies in Colombo Stock Exchange in order to solve this puzzle in a
unique way. Board size, independence, gender diversity, and meetings were
used to measure the board attributes, and dividend per share is used to
measure the dividend policy. This study employed a quantitative technique,
with panel data gathered from the annual reports of listed companies of
consumer services sector from 2016 to 2021. A sample of twenty-five listed
consumer services companies were selected randomly for this study.
Further, the study used descriptive and Ordinary Least Square with random
effects model. The findings showed that board size has a positive significant
relationship with dividend per share, whereas board independence, board
gender diversity, and board meetings have no significant impact on dividend
policy. The findings suggested that companies with strong board attributes
have an impact on the dividend policy of publicly traded consumer services
companies during the period.
