Impact of Board Characteristics on the Corporate Dividends Pay-Out: Evidence from Companies Listed on the Palestine Exchange for the Period of 2013-2019

Abstract

This research aimed to examine the impact of board characteristics on dividends pay-out in companies listed on the Palestine Exchange during the period 2013 to 2019 with a total 311 firm year observations. This variable is operationalized by several measures including gender existence, board size, CEO duality, independence director, and institutional investors. The study uses dividend per share (DPS) as dependent variable. A robust least square regression model used to evaluate the empirical model in the current study using panel data analysis. Data was gathered from the (PEX) website as well as the annual reports of the companies sampled. The research find that at the 5% level of confidence, there is a positive significant relationship between Board size, gender participation, and dividend per share (DPS). Furthermore, at the 5% level, there is a significant positive relationship between firm size, profitability, audit firm, and DPS. Firm leverage, on the other hand, has a negative impact on the DPS at the 1% level of confidence. The research's main contribution in focuses data analysis on the final result of firms operations which is the core concern of investment decisions, it may also assist legislative and official institutions in this field in making their best efforts to establish governance codes in the manner that society wishes