Do environmental controversies lead to lower dividend payouts? The role of environmental performance and board gender diversity

IF 6.9 2区经济学 Q1 BUSINESS, FINANCE

Research in International Business and Finance Pub Date : 2025-07-01 DOI:10.1016/j.ribaf.2025.103037

Redhwan Al-Dhamari , Saeed Rabea Baatwah , María Consuelo Pucheta-Martínez , Omar Ikbal Tawfik

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Abstract

This study examines the intricate relationship between environmental controversies and corporate dividend policy, while simultaneously investigating the effect of environmental performance and board gender diversity on this relationship. Existing studies identify several factors as determinants of corporate dividend policy; however, how environmental controversies affect dividend payouts remains underexplored. Using 5225 observations of publicly listed firms in European Union countries between 2016 and 2023, we find that firms involved in environmental controversies are less likely to distribute cash dividends. Moreover, we find that environmental performance significantly impacts the relationship between environmental controversies and dividend payouts. However, this effect exacerbates the detrimental impact of environmental controversies, while board gender diversity does not significantly affect this relationship. Further analyses show that the adverse effects of environmental controversies on dividend payouts are heterogeneous across various industry characteristics and levels of environmental disclosure maturity. We also find that earnings and risk are critical channels through which environmental controversies reduce dividend payouts. Finally, we find that environmental controversies predict future dividend policies. Overall, our findings offer valuable insights to numerous stakeholders regarding the influence of corporate environmental practices on financial decision-making.

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环境争议会导致派息减少吗？环境绩效和董事会性别多样性的作用

本研究探讨了环境争议与公司股利政策之间的复杂关系，同时探讨了环境绩效和董事会性别多样性对这种关系的影响。现有研究确定了几个因素作为公司股息政策的决定因素；然而，环境争议如何影响派息仍未得到充分探讨。通过对2016年至2023年间欧盟国家上市公司的5225个观察结果，我们发现卷入环境争议的公司不太可能分配现金股息。此外，我们发现环境绩效显著影响环境争议与股息支付之间的关系。然而，这种效应加剧了环境争议的不利影响，而董事会性别多样性对这种关系没有显著影响。进一步的分析表明，环境争议对股利支付的不利影响在不同的行业特征和环境披露成熟度水平上是异质的。我们还发现，收益和风险是环境争议减少股息支付的关键渠道。最后，我们发现环境争议可以预测未来的股利政策。总体而言，我们的研究结果为众多利益相关者提供了有关企业环境实践对财务决策影响的宝贵见解。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Research in International Business and Finance BUSINESS, FINANCE-

CiteScore

11.20

自引率

9.20%

发文量

240

期刊介绍： Research in International Business and Finance (RIBAF) seeks to consolidate its position as a premier scholarly vehicle of academic finance. The Journal publishes high quality, insightful, well-written papers that explore current and new issues in international finance. Papers that foster dialogue, innovation, and intellectual risk-taking in financial studies; as well as shed light on the interaction between finance and broader societal concerns are particularly appreciated. The Journal welcomes submissions that seek to expand the boundaries of academic finance and otherwise challenge the discipline. Papers studying finance using a variety of methodologies; as well as interdisciplinary studies will be considered for publication. Papers that examine topical issues using extensive international data sets are welcome. Single-country studies can also be considered for publication provided that they develop novel methodological and theoretical approaches or fall within the Journal''s priority themes. It is especially important that single-country studies communicate to the reader why the particular chosen country is especially relevant to the issue being investigated. [...] The scope of topics that are most interesting to RIBAF readers include the following: -Financial markets and institutions -Financial practices and sustainability -The impact of national culture on finance -The impact of formal and informal institutions on finance -Privatizations, public financing, and nonprofit issues in finance -Interdisciplinary financial studies -Finance and international development -International financial crises and regulation -Financialization studies -International financial integration and architecture -Behavioral aspects in finance -Consumer finance -Methodologies and conceptualization issues related to finance