Board Gender Composition And Cash Dividend Policy

Cash dividend policy is not only related to the operation and development of the company,but also to the protection of investors' interests,so how to formulate a reasonable cash dividend policy has been a common topic that the theoretical and practical circles interest.At the same time,the gender diversity in the board has also received more and more attention.Given that the board is an important decision-making body,the gender composition of the board will influence its decisions,including the formulation of cash dividend policy.But present literature paid little attention to the relationship between board gender composition and cash dividend policy,which mainly concentrated in developed countries,such as Europe and America.Therefore,for the construction of corporate board and the formulation of the cash dividend policy in our country,it is of great practical significance to explore the effect of board gender composition on the cash dividend payment level,using the data of China's A-share listed companies.In order to provide more empirical evidence about the inner link between the gender composition of the board and the cash dividend policy,the mechanism of action between the gender composition of the board and the cash dividend policy was discussed in this paper and empirical studies were conducted using A-share listed companies in China as the research object,based on the agency theory,life cycle theory,upper echelon theory and gender difference theory.In terms of research content,this paper firstly combed the related literature,which studied the cash dividend policy,the female directors and the relationship between the gender composition of the board and the cash dividend policy,and had a better understanding of the factors that impact the company's cash dividend policy and the influence of female directors on the company.Secondly,on the one hand,this paper explained that female directors can supervise managers more actively,which will reduce the degree of information asymmetry and alleviate the problem of agency.On the other hand,this paper explained that women directors are more cautious and conservative,and have the tendency of risk aversion.Next based on different perspectives,this paper put forward the opposite hypothesis on the relationship between the board gender composition and cash dividend payment,and proposed that the nature of state-owned property rights may positively regulate that relationship.Then,this paper used the data of Chinese listed companies from 2010 to 2016 to test the hypothesis of the relationship between the board gender composition and the cash dividend policy.In the further study,this paper probed into the influence of relevant factors,such as controlling shareholder's shareholding ratio,corporate growth and whether CEO is the only executive member in the board,on the relationship between the board gender composition and cash dividend payment deeper.Finally,this paper used various methods to test the endogeny and robustness of the main regression results,drew relevant conclusions and put forward policy recommendations.In this paper,the research results show that the more women there are on the board of directors,the higher the level of cash dividend payment will be.And the nature of state-owned property rights positively adjusts the relationship between board gender composition and cash dividend policy.In addition,after distinguishing the nature of property rights,this paper finds that the female directors of state-owned listed companies have a positive impact on the cash dividend payment level,and there is no significant correlation between the board gender composition and cash dividend payment level in non-state-owned listed companies.Overall,the research of this paper expands the research horizon and enriches the related research literature in theory.And in practice,it can provide guidance for the company to arrange the personnel structure of the board of directors and formulate cash dividend policy.