Dividend policy and the catering theory: evidence from the Taiwan Stock Exchange
- Resource Type
- JOURNAL
- Authors
- Wang, Ming-Hui; Ke, Mei-Chu; Lin, Feng-Yu; Huang, Yen-Sheng
- Source
- Managerial Finance, 2016, Vol. 42, Issue 10, pp. 999-1016.
- Subject
- research-article
Research paper
cat-ACF
Accounting & Finance
cat-FMS
Financial management/structure
Catering theory
Dividend policy
Stock dividend
G30
G35
M21
- Language
- English
- ISSN
- 0307-4358
Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine the dividend policy for firms listed on the Taiwan Stock Exchange. The results are consistent with the prediction of the catering theory in that managers choose a dividend policy to cater to the demand of investors. Design/methodology/approach Logistic regressions are used to test the catering theory hypothesis. Findings The results find that the firms distribute more stock dividends than other types of dividends when the dividend premium (DP) for stock dividends is positive. In contrast, firms shift from stock dividends to other types of dividends such as mixed dividends and cash dividends when the DP for stock dividends is negative. Originality/value The marginal contribution of this paper is that the firms change their dividend policy via DP to cater to the demand of investors.