The effect of female on Board of Directors on dividend payout policy of Vietnamese listed firms

Abstract

In recent years, women have more opportunities to participate in senior management positions. According to the Country Gender Equality Profile Vietnam 2021 (UN Women), Vietnam ranks among the top two countries in the ASEAN region for the highest percentage of women on the boards in listed firms. This study aims to assess the role of women, through their presence on the Board of Directors (BOD), in the dividend payout policies. Using the binary and multinomial logistic regression with a dataset of Vietnamese listed firms during the 2010-2022 period, the results show that the probability of a firm choosing not to pay dividends is positively associated with the increase in the percentages of females in the BOD. This result implies that women tend to accept lower risk and prefer to preserve the internal funds rather than distribute dividends to shareholders.