IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/intfin/v97y2024ics1042443124001409.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Organization capital, dividends and firm value: International evidence

Author

Listed:
  • Chasiotis, Ioannis
  • Loukopoulos, Georgios
  • Toudas, Kanellos

Abstract

This study investigates the relationship between organization capital, dividends, and firm value across 61 countries. We find that firms with higher organization capital distribute more dividends. By exploiting changes in the stringency of national labor regulations, we demonstrate that this effect strengthens when labor markets become more flexible. Additionally, we document that the market places a premium on dividend payouts from firms with higher organization capital. Further analysis reveals that this premium differential and the positive organization capital-dividend payouts relationship, are more pronounced in firms and countries marked by substantial agency issues. The robustness of our evidence is affirmed through several endogeneity tests, supporting the agency view of organization capital.

Suggested Citation

  • Chasiotis, Ioannis & Loukopoulos, Georgios & Toudas, Kanellos, 2024. "Organization capital, dividends and firm value: International evidence," Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, Elsevier, vol. 97(C).
  • Handle: RePEc:eee:intfin:v:97:y:2024:i:c:s1042443124001409
    DOI: 10.1016/j.intfin.2024.102074
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1042443124001409
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.intfin.2024.102074?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Sergio Correia, 2016. "reghdfe: Estimating linear models with multi-way fixed effects," 2016 Stata Conference 24, Stata Users Group.
    2. Arthur Lewbel, 2012. "Using Heteroscedasticity to Identify and Estimate Mismeasured and Endogenous Regressor Models," Journal of Business & Economic Statistics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 30(1), pages 67-80.
    3. Andrea L. Eisfeldt & Dimitris Papanikolaou, 2013. "Organization Capital and the Cross-Section of Expected Returns," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 68(4), pages 1365-1406, August.
    4. Antonio Falato & Dalida Kadyrzhanova & Jae Sim & Roberto Steri, 2022. "Rising Intangible Capital, Shrinking Debt Capacity, and the U.S. Corporate Savings Glut," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 77(5), pages 2799-2852, October.
    5. Myers, Stewart C. & Majluf, Nicholas S., 1984. "Corporate financing and investment decisions when firms have information that investors do not have," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 13(2), pages 187-221, June.
    6. Campello, Murillo & Graham, John R. & Harvey, Campbell R., 2010. "The real effects of financial constraints: Evidence from a financial crisis," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 97(3), pages 470-487, September.
    7. Lee Pinkowitz & René Stulz & Rohan Williamson, 2006. "Does the Contribution of Corporate Cash Holdings and Dividends to Firm Value Depend on Governance? A Cross‐country Analysis," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 61(6), pages 2725-2751, December.
    8. La Porta, Rafael & Lopez-de-Silanes, Florencio & Shleifer, Andrei & Vishny, Robert, 2000. "Investor protection and corporate governance," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 58(1-2), pages 3-27.
    9. Jean Canil & Sigitas Karpavičius & Chia‐Feng (Jeffrey) Yu, 2023. "CEO mobility and corporate payouts," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 50(9-10), pages 1743-1778, October.
    10. Hainmueller, Jens, 2012. "Entropy Balancing for Causal Effects: A Multivariate Reweighting Method to Produce Balanced Samples in Observational Studies," Political Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 20(1), pages 25-46, January.
    11. Carol Corrado & Charles Hulten & Daniel Sichel, 2009. "Intangible Capital And U.S. Economic Growth," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 55(3), pages 661-685, September.
    12. McCabe, George M., 1979. "The Empirical Relationship Between Investment and Financing: A New Look," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 14(1), pages 119-135, March.
    13. Hubbard, R Glenn & Kashyap, Anil K & Whited, Toni M, 1995. "International Finance and Firm Investment," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 27(3), pages 683-701, August.
    14. Steven M. Fazzari & R. Glenn Hubbard & Bruce C. Petersen, 1988. "Financing Constraints and Corporate Investment," Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, Economic Studies Program, The Brookings Institution, vol. 19(1), pages 141-206.
    15. Brockman, Paul & Hanousek, Jan & Tresl, Jiri & Unlu, Emre, 2022. "Dividend Smoothing and Firm Valuation," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 57(4), pages 1621-1647, June.
    16. repec:bla:jfinan:v:53:y:1998:i:3:p:879-904 is not listed on IDEAS
    17. Gao, Mingze & Leung, Henry & Qiu, Buhui, 2021. "Organization capital and executive performance incentives," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 123(C).
    18. Chen, Xiaoqi & Li, Weiping & Torsin, Wouter & Tsang, Albert, 2024. "Dividend policy under mandatory ESG reporting," Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, Elsevier, vol. 93(C).
    19. Chakraborty, Shankha & Ray, Tridip, 2006. "Bank-based versus market-based financial systems: A growth-theoretic analysis," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 53(2), pages 329-350, March.
    20. Takeo Hoshi & Anil Kashyap & David Scharfstein, 1991. "Corporate Structure, Liquidity, and Investment: Evidence from Japanese Industrial Groups," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 106(1), pages 33-60.
    21. DeAngelo, Harry & DeAngelo, Linda & Stulz, Rene M., 2006. "Dividend policy and the earned/contributed capital mix: a test of the life-cycle theory," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 81(2), pages 227-254, August.
    22. Mitchell A. Petersen, 2009. "Estimating Standard Errors in Finance Panel Data Sets: Comparing Approaches," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 22(1), pages 435-480, January.
    23. Tracy Yue Wang & Andrew Winton & Xiaoyun Yu, 2010. "Corporate Fraud and Business Conditions: Evidence from IPOs," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 65(6), pages 2255-2292, December.
    24. Myers, Stewart C., 1984. "Capital structure puzzle," Working papers 1548-84., Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Sloan School of Management.
    25. Sun, Liyang & Abraham, Sarah, 2021. "Estimating dynamic treatment effects in event studies with heterogeneous treatment effects," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 225(2), pages 175-199.
    26. Djankov, Simeon & La Porta, Rafael & Lopez-de-Silanes, Florencio & Shleifer, Andrei, 2008. "The law and economics of self-dealing," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 88(3), pages 430-465, June.
    27. James S. Ang & Rebel A. Cole & James Wuh Lin, 2000. "Agency Costs and Ownership Structure," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 55(1), pages 81-106, February.
    28. Attig, Najah & El Ghoul, Sadok & Guedhami, Omrane & Zheng, Xiaolan, 2021. "Dividends and economic policy uncertainty: International evidence," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 66(C).
    29. Jiraporn, Pornsit & Chintrakarn, Pandej & Kim, Young S., 2012. "Analyst following, staggered boards, and managerial entrenchment," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 36(11), pages 3091-3100.
    30. Baker, Andrew C. & Larcker, David F. & Wang, Charles C.Y., 2022. "How much should we trust staggered difference-in-differences estimates?," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 144(2), pages 370-395.
    31. Goodman-Bacon, Andrew, 2021. "Difference-in-differences with variation in treatment timing," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 225(2), pages 254-277.
    32. Renneboog, Luc & Szilagyi, Peter G., 2020. "How relevant is dividend policy under low shareholder protection?," Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, Elsevier, vol. 64(C).
    33. Leung, Woon Sau & Mazouz, Khelifa & Chen, Jie & Wood, Geoffrey, 2018. "Organization capital, labor market flexibility, and stock returns around the world," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 89(C), pages 150-168.
    34. Jensen, Michael C, 1986. "Agency Costs of Free Cash Flow, Corporate Finance, and Takeovers," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 76(2), pages 323-329, May.
    35. Yaniv Grinstein & Roni Michaely, 2005. "Institutional Holdings and Payout Policy," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 60(3), pages 1389-1426, June.
    36. Callaway, Brantly & Sant’Anna, Pedro H.C., 2021. "Difference-in-Differences with multiple time periods," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 225(2), pages 200-230.
    37. Byrne, Julie & O'Connor, Thomas, 2017. "How do creditors respond to disclosure quality? Evidence from corporate dividend payouts," Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, Elsevier, vol. 49(C), pages 154-172.
    38. Balachandran, Balasingham & Nguyen, Justin Hung, 2018. "Does carbon risk matter in firm dividend policy? Evidence from a quasi-natural experiment in an imputation environment," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 96(C), pages 249-267.
    39. Easterbrook, Frank H, 1984. "Two Agency-Cost Explanations of Dividends," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 74(4), pages 650-659, September.
    40. Byrne, Julie & O’Connor, Thomas, 2017. "Creditor rights, culture and dividend payout policy," Journal of Multinational Financial Management, Elsevier, vol. 39(C), pages 60-77.
    41. Myers, Stewart C, 1984. "The Capital Structure Puzzle," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 39(3), pages 575-592, July.
    42. Fauver, Larry & Hung, Mingyi & Li, Xi & Taboada, Alvaro G., 2017. "Board reforms and firm value: Worldwide evidence," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 125(1), pages 120-142.
    43. Doruk Cengiz & Arindrajit Dube & Attila Lindner & Ben Zipperer, 2019. "The Effect of Minimum Wages on Low-Wage Jobs," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 134(3), pages 1405-1454.
    44. Ahmed Elbadry & Dimitrios Gounopoulos & Frank Skinner, 2015. "Governance Quality and Information Asymmetry," Financial Markets, Institutions & Instruments, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 24(2-3), pages 127-157, May.
    45. Chen, Jie & Leung, Woon Sau & Goergen, Marc, 2017. "The impact of board gender composition on dividend payouts," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 43(C), pages 86-105.
    46. Peters, Ryan H. & Taylor, Lucian A., 2017. "Intangible capital and the investment-q relation," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 123(2), pages 251-272.
    47. He, Wen & Zhang, Feida, 2022. "Languages and dividends," The British Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 54(6).
    48. Hasan, Mostafa Monzur & Cheung, Adrian (Wai-Kong), 2018. "Organization capital and firm life cycle," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 48(C), pages 556-578.
    49. Mekhaimer, Mohamed & Abakah, Alex Annan & Ibrahim, Awad & Hussainey, Khaled, 2022. "Subordinate executives' horizon and firm policies," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 74(C).
    50. Steve Bond & Costas Meghir, 1994. "Financial constraints and company investment," Fiscal Studies, Institute for Fiscal Studies, vol. 15(2), pages 1-18, May.
    51. Andrea L. Eisfeldt & Dimitris Papanikolaou, 2014. "The Value and Ownership of Intangible Capital," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 104(5), pages 189-194, May.
    52. Myers, Stewart C, 1984. "The Capital Structure Puzzle," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 39(3), pages 575-592, July.
    53. Long, Huaigang & Chiah, Mardy & Cakici, Nusret & Zaremba, Adam & Bilgin, Mehmet Huseyin, 2024. "ESG investing in good and bad times: An international study," Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, Elsevier, vol. 91(C).
    54. John, Kose & Williams, Joseph, 1985. "Dividends, Dilution, and Taxes: A Signalling Equilibrium," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 40(4), pages 1053-1070, September.
    55. Sudipto Bhattacharya, 1979. "Imperfect Information, Dividend Policy, and "The Bird in the Hand" Fallacy," Bell Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 10(1), pages 259-270, Spring.
    56. Li, Kai & Qiu, Buhui & Shen, Rui, 2018. "Organization Capital and Mergers and Acquisitions," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 53(4), pages 1871-1909, August.
    57. Bin Chang & Shantanu Dutta & Samir Saadi & PengCheng Zhu, 2018. "Corporate Governance And Dividend Payout Policy: Beyond Country‐Level Governance," Journal of Financial Research, Southern Finance Association;Southwestern Finance Association, vol. 41(4), pages 445-484, December.
    58. Colak, Gonul & Gounopoulos, Dimitrios & Loukopoulos, Panagiotis & Loukopoulos, Georgios, 2021. "Tournament incentives and IPO failure risk," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 130(C).
    59. Francis, Bill & Mani, Suresh Babu & Sharma, Zenu & Wu, Qiang, 2021. "The impact of organization capital on firm innovation," Journal of Financial Stability, Elsevier, vol. 53(C).
    60. Bae, Kee-Hong & El Ghoul, Sadok & Guedhami, Omrane & Zheng, Xiaolan, 2021. "Board Reforms and Dividend Policy: International Evidence," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 56(4), pages 1296-1320, June.
    61. David H. Autor & William R. Kerr & Adriana D. Kugler, 2007. "Does Employment Protection Reduce Productivity? Evidence From US States," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 117(521), pages 189-217, June.
    62. Hasan, Mostafa Monzur & Uddin, Mohammad Riaz, 2022. "Do intangibles matter for corporate policies? Evidence from organization capital and corporate payout choices," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 135(C).
    63. Hasan, Mostafa Monzur & Lobo, Gerald J. & Qiu, Buhui, 2021. "Organizational capital, corporate tax avoidance, and firm value," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 70(C).
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Hasan, Mostafa Monzur & Uddin, Mohammad Riaz, 2022. "Do intangibles matter for corporate policies? Evidence from organization capital and corporate payout choices," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 135(C).
    2. Cumming, Douglas J. & Javakhadze, David & Rajkovic, Tijana, 2024. "Unlocking Dividends: The impact of managerial social capital on international corporate payouts," Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, Elsevier, vol. 95(C).
    3. Provaty, Sagira Sultana & Hasan, Mostafa Monzur & Luo, Le, 2024. "Organization capital and GHG emissions," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 131(C).
    4. Khoo, Joye & Cheung, Adrian (Wai Kong), 2025. "Reprint of: The hidden cost of organisation capital: Evidence from trade credit," The British Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 57(1).
    5. Basharat Khan & Qiujun Zhao & Amjad Iqbal & Irfan Ullah & Shahab Aziz, 2022. "Internal Dynamics of Dividend Policy in East-Asia: A Comparative Study of Japan and South Korea," SAGE Open, , vol. 12(2), pages 21582440221, April.
    6. Chen, Leqin & Lei, Adrian C.H. & Song, Chen, 2024. "Organization capital and stock price crash risk," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 88(C).
    7. Hasan, Mostafa Monzur & Lobo, Gerald J. & Qiu, Buhui, 2021. "Organizational capital, corporate tax avoidance, and firm value," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 70(C).
    8. Paulo, Alves, 2018. "Abnormal retained earnings around the world," Journal of Multinational Financial Management, Elsevier, vol. 46(C), pages 63-74.
    9. Apergis, Nicholas & Chasiotis, Ioannis & Georgantopoulos, Andreas G. & Konstantios, Dimitrios, 2021. "The integration of share repurchases into investment decision-making: Evidence from Japan," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 78(C).
    10. Jiang, Zhan & Kim, Kenneth A., 2013. "Financial management in China," Journal of Multinational Financial Management, Elsevier, vol. 23(3), pages 125-133.
    11. Chowdhury, Hasibul & Le, Trinh Hue & Tan, Kelvin Jui Keng, 2025. "Organization capital and labor investment efficiency," Journal of Financial Stability, Elsevier, vol. 77(C).
    12. Hussein Abedi Shamsabadi & Byung-Seong Min & Richard Chung, 2016. "Corporate governance and dividend strategy: lessons from Australia," International Journal of Managerial Finance, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 12(5), pages 583-610, October.
    13. Morais, Flávio & Serrasqueiro, Zélia & Ramalho, Joaquim J.S., 2020. "The zero-leverage phenomenon: A bivariate probit with partial observability approach," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 53(C).
    14. Muhammad Farooq Ahmad & Nihat Aktas & Douglas Cumming & Guosong Xu, 2024. "Board reforms and M&A performance: international evidence," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 55(5), pages 616-637, July.
    15. Xue, Yi & Zhang, Xinzhi, 2024. "Digital transformation and corporate capital structure: Evidence from China," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 84(C).
    16. Kartal Demirg ne, 2015. "Determinants of Target Dividend Payout Ratio: A Panel Autoregressive Distributed Lag Analysis," International Journal of Economics and Financial Issues, Econjournals, vol. 5(2), pages 418-426.
    17. Gul, Ferdinand A., 1999. "Growth opportunities, capital structure and dividend policies in Japan," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 5(2), pages 141-168, June.
    18. Panta, Humnath & Narayanasamy, Arun & Panta, Ayush, 2023. "Organizational capital and credit ratings," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 57(C).
    19. Sheikh, Shahbaz, 2022. "CEO power and the likelihood of paying dividends: Effect of profitability and cash flow volatility," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 73(C).
    20. Akindayomi, Akinloye & Amin, Md Ruhul, 2022. "Does business strategy affect dividend payout policies?," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 151(C), pages 531-550.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Organization capital; Intangible capital; Dividends; Payout policy; Firm value; Agency theory;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • G30 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - General
    • G32 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - Financing Policy; Financial Risk and Risk Management; Capital and Ownership Structure; Value of Firms; Goodwill
    • E22 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment - - - Investment; Capital; Intangible Capital; Capacity

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:intfin:v:97:y:2024:i:c:s1042443124001409. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/intfin .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.