Dividend smoothing when firms distribute most of their earnings as dividends

Due to its distinctive institutional background, Oman offers a valuable opportunity to investigate the stability of the dividend policy. In Oman, (1) there are no taxes on dividends, (2) firms are highly levered mainly through bank loans, (3) there is a high concentration of stock ownership and (4)...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published inApplied financial economics Vol. 21; no. 16; pp. 1175 - 1183
Main Authors Al-Yahyaee, K. H., Pham, T. M., Walter, T. S.
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published London Routledge 01.08.2011
Taylor and Francis Journals
Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group
SeriesApplied Financial Economics
Subjects
bank debt
Corporate finance
Corporate governance
dividend smoothing
Dividends
Financial institutions
Financial management
Financial services
government ownership
Oman
Public ownership
Signalling
Stock returns
Studies
Taxes
Oman
Online AccessGet full text

Cover

More Information
Summary:Due to its distinctive institutional background, Oman offers a valuable opportunity to investigate the stability of the dividend policy. In Oman, (1) there are no taxes on dividends, (2) firms are highly levered mainly through bank loans, (3) there is a high concentration of stock ownership and (4) there is variability in cash dividend payments. These factors suggest a diminished role of dividend smoothing in Oman. Our results show that Omani financial firms have erratic dividend policies. These results are inconsistent with the predictions suggested by the relatively weak corporate governance, government ownership and dividend signalling.
Bibliography:ObjectType-Article-2
SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1
ObjectType-Feature-1
content type line 23
ISSN:0960-3107
1466-4305
DOI:10.1080/09603107.2011.566177