THE IMPACT OF FAMILY OWNERSHIP ON DIVIDEND PAYOUT POLICY IN VIETNAM LISTED COMPANIES

Abstract

Using sample of 338 listed firms includes 95 family firms and 243 non-family firms in Vietnam stock market both of Hanoi Stock Exchange (HNX) and Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange (HOSE) from 2011 to 2014, this study empirically research the impact of family ownership on dividend payout policy in Vietnam listed family firms. Five independent variables namely cash ratio, leverage, firm size (Ln_TA), family ownership (D_FF) and CEO position (D_CEO) was used to put into two regression equations to analyze and answer research question of this topic. The research‘s results show that family ownership has negative correlation with dividend payout in Vietnam. Family firms have a lower cash dividend, pay fewer dividends and diversified methods than non-family firms. They use different ways to payout as cash dividend, stock dividend and both of them is more evenly than non-family firms. Moreover, after analysis, the research find out that cash ratio is positive impact to dividend payout policy of family listed firms in Vietnam stock market but these results is contrary with leverage, CEO position and firm size variables. Based on output of this research, some recommendations will be suggested to helps investors to have better understanding about family firms and dividend payout policy of these companies.