An investigation of dividend smoothing behavior in CIVETS
Moustakidou, Athanasia
Chatzipoulka, Vaia
The principal aim of this study was to assess the dividend behavior of firms in the group of countries named CIVETS, which is formed from the initials of the countries of Colombia, Indonesia, Vietnam, Egypt, Turkey and South Africa. These countries are characterized by their highly economically developing markets. As it is widely noticed, developing countries offer high dividend yields in an attempt to attract institutional investors; and, even if they have great need of financing for investing, they do not cut dividends sharply, because they will lose investors. Thus, they choose to follow a more smoothed dividend policy, in order to adjust variations in dividend payments to the variations in earnings streams. Specifically, this study tests the presence of dividend smoothing by implementing two alternative measures of smoothing based on the Lintner’s model (1956). For this purpose, 472 firms listed on the Colombian, Indonesian, Vietnamese, Egyptian, Turkish and South Africa’s Stock Exchange were investigated over a 21-year period, from 1990-2011. The empirical results of this study show evidence that CIVETS companies pay smoothed dividends. However, the degree of dividend smoothing differs among CIVETS countries. Finally, the outcome indicates that the Lintner’s dividend smoothing model does not fully explain the dividend behavior in CIVETS countries.
