Female directors, the institutional environment and dividend policy: evidence from ASEAN-5 commercial banks

Purpose - This paper aims to investigate the impact of female directors on the dividend policies of 96 ASEAN-5 listed commercial banks between 2015 and 2020. Design/methodology/approach - This paper developed an econometric model to assess the impact of female directors on the banks’ dividend policies. This paper regressed the payout variable on the female director, legal (institutional environment) variables and several control variables. This paper also considered the interaction between the female and legal variables to assess the moderating impact of the institutional environment. Findings - This paper found that female directors positively affected dividend policy and that banks with female directors tended to pay dividends to balance stakeholders’ interests, especially for the minority. This paper also found that the influence of female directors was weaker in countries with strong institutional environments because greater legal protection for shareholders reinforced or replaced corporate governance mechanisms. Originality/value - To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study to investigate gender diversity and its impact on dividend policy using data from ASEAN-5 countries.