• The Korean Journal of Financial Management
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.135-161
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• 2007

In this paper, we study empirically the dividend initiation decisions of IPO firms listed on Korea Securities Market and KOSDAQ Market. Specifically, we study three aspects of dividend initiation decision, (a) dividend initiation decision, (b) dividend level decision, (c) time-to-initiation decision. The main results of this study can be summarized as follows. First, determinants suggested by the major theories of dividends, namely, residual dividend, dividend signaling, agency, catering, and transactions cost theory explain significantly the dividend initiation decision. Second, determinants suggested by the major theories of dividends explain significantly the dividend level decision. So to speak, most of the findings for dividend initiation decision also hold for the dividend level decision. Third, most of the factors that increase(decrease) the probability of dividend initiation reduce(increase) the time-to-initiation. Almost of the dividend initiation firms start paying dividends within two years of the IPO. Thus, if IPO firm does not initiate dividend early in the life of the firm, then it is highly likely that it will never initiate dividend.

• The Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Business
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• v.8 no.4
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• pp.317-328
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• 2021

This study aims to determine the factors that affect dividends initiation by initial public offering firms in Malaysia. The ownership structure is examined from a corporate governance theoretical perspective in order to evaluate the impacts of managerial, institutional, and family ownership on the dividend's initiation decision of IPO firms. This study employs a quantitative pooled cross-section of 372 Malaysian IPO companies active during the period of 2002-2013. The number of firms that went public each year varies, thus the pooled cross-section data takes place in this case rather than the panel data. The logistic model was employed to test the proposed hypotheses. The results revealed that the presence of institutional investors in the ownership structure make it more likely for IPO firms to initiate dividends. On the contrary, the presence of a family ownership structure in IPO companies as the controlling shareholder makes these companies less probable to initiate dividends. Managerial ownership was found to have no effect on the decision of initiating dividends by IPO firms. The findings of this study suggest that the existence of institutional and family ownerships are agency cost mitigators, as these ownership types could prompt IPOs firms to initiate dividends to overcome the agency conflicts.