Firm-specific characteristics as a mediator in the effect of corporate governance on dividend policy before and during the COVID-19 pandemic among publicly listed Philippine companies

• Main Authors: Aquino, Marcus Gabriel A., Itaralde, Giancarlo C., Jopson, Alyssa Frances C., Zamora, Michaela Louisse P.
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Animo Repository 2023
• Subjects: Corporate governance—Philippines; Dividends—Philippines; COVID-19 Pandemic, 2020- —Influence; Accounting; Business Administration, Management, and Operations
• Online Access: https://animorepository.dlsu.edu.ph/etdb_acc/77; https://animorepository.dlsu.edu.ph/context/etdb_acc/article/1121/viewcontent/Firm_Specific_Characteristics_as_a_Mediator_In_The_Effect_of_Corp2.pdf
• Institution: De La Salle University

Businesses around the world were recently affected by the financial crisis brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic. Companies relied on their corporate governance mechanisms to mitigate the threats that they faced due to the crisis. The study proves how corporate governance affects the economic viability and in turn how these factors affect a company’s dividend payout to their shareholders who continue to invest in their company despite the looming financial crisis brought by the COVID-19 pandemic. The study assessed the mediating effects of firm-specific characteristics in the effect of corporate governance on dividend policy of selected publicly listed companies in the Philippines before and during the COVID-19 pandemic using descriptive statistics and Structural Equation Modeling (SEM). The researchers collected 600 observations from 100 corporations in the Philippines in a 6-year period. The results of the study found that board size, board independence, institutional ownership, and executive compensation were significant indicators of corporate governance. Moreover, the study found that corporate governance had a negative impact on the firm-specific characteristics and dividend payout ratio. This indicates that the higher the value of corporate governance indicators, the higher resulting firm-specific characteristics and dividend payout ratio. The variables that showed a partial mediating effect were firm size, firm profitability, and financial leverage. Lastly, the COVID-19 pandemic showed no effect on the firm-specific characteristics and dividend payout ratio.