The Influence Of Board Gender Diversity On Corporate Cash Dividend Policy

Cash dividend policy is closely related to the development of listed companies,so it has been widely concerned by the community.At the same time,the formulation of a reasonable dividend policy is also an inherent requirement for the healthy development of the capital market.For half a century,domestic and foreign scholars have studied the core issue of“What are the factors affecting the company's dividend policy?”The existing literature shows that the factors affecting the company's dividend policy include both the social macroeconomic level and company's management.At the micro aspect,it also includes the board of directors.The board of directors plays a central role in the internal governance mechanism of the company,shoulders important duties such as company management decision-making and supervision,and is responsible for formulating the company's annual profit distribution plan.So,will the gender diversification of the company's board of directors affect the company's dividend policy? If there is an impact,is this effect positive or negative? What is the effect of state-owned property rights on the relationship between board gender diversity and dividend policy? In addition,will the financial crisis have an impact on the relationship between board gender diversity and cash dividend policies? This paper attempts to solve the above problem.First of all,this paper analyzes the current situation and problems of dividend distribution of a-share listed companies in China and finds that since 2000,the willingness of cash dividend distribution of a-share listed companies in China has been on the rise.However,the cash dividend payment rate is still low,which is generally maintained at 20%-30%.The reasons for this situation lie in: Special ownership structure,absence of external restriction mechanism,imperfect governance structure and irrational behavior of investment.Then,based on the principal-agent theory and stakeholder theory,this paper analyzes the theoretical basis of the influence of gender diversity on corporate dividend policy.On this basis,this paper presents relevant research hypotheses by combing existing research literature.In the empirical part,this paper selected 12,381 observed values of A-share listed companies in Shanghai and Shenzhen from 2007 to 2017 as research samples,and used Tobit regression model to empirically test the relationship between board gender diversity and corporate cash dividend policy.The main research conclusions of this paper are as follows:(1)Gender diversity of the board of directors has a negative impact on the company's cash dividend policy.This may due to the fact that China's current imperfect legal and regulatory system and inefficient market supervision,and the conservative nature of female directors will make them prefer to retain cash rather than pay cash dividends,so as to deal with the uncertain events in the future corporate operation.(2)State-owned property rights can improve the negative relationship between board gender diversity and corporate cash dividend policies.This may be due to the following facts: First,compared with other enterprises,state-owned enterprises have more resources,such as credit resources,due to their own political background.Therefore,female directors do not need to think too much about the impact of unexpected events on the development of the company,so there is no need for them to adopt a negative cash dividend policy.Second,China's state-owned enterprises are faced with serious agency problems,and female directors tend to pay cash dividends to alleviate this problem.(3)The financial crisis had no significant effect on the relationship between board gender diversity and corporate cash dividend policies.This may due to the fact that during the financial crisis,China's capital market has not been fully open,relatively small impact.In addition,during the crisis,the Chinese government issued a proactive fiscal policy(4 trillion yuan stimulus policy)and a moderately loose monetary policy,actively expanded domestic demand,China's economy quickly bottomed out,and basically walked out of the impact of the financial crisis in a short time.Finally,this paper puts forward relevant Suggestions on the basis of the above research.First of all,the equity structure should be improved to change the excessive concentration of equity in listed companies,and the mechanism to protect the interests of minority shareholders should be established within the company.Secondly,improve and implement relevant laws and regulations to standardize the dividend payment behavior of the superior company from the system level.At last,the financing channels should be broadened to change the current situation of difficult and expensive financing for listed companies.