Impact of corporate governance on dividend policy : a systematic literature review of last two decades

The present study endeavours to perform a systematic review of the literature related to the impact of corporate governance on dividend policy in the last two decades. This study uses the systematic literature review process . 143 articles were identified initially and subsequently further narrowed down to 66 most relevant articles for the scope of this study. This paper critically examines the influential studies in the literature related to the impact of corporate governance on dividend policy. The literature review related to corporate governance is analysed from two broad perspectives i.e. (a)Impact of Shareholder protection on dividend pay-out and (b) Impact of Controlling stakeholders on dividend pay-out. Our findings are as follows. Firstly, a vast majority of studies have found a positive relationship between better corporate governance practice and higher dividend pay-out. Secondly, the study finds that the majority of the research has been done in the USA and Europe while limited studies have focussed on emerging markets. Finally, our reviews show that there is a dearth of studies that evaluate the impact of the structural changes in corporate governance in various emerging markets. This study contributes to the extant literature in several ways. It highlights the research gaps in this field and provides a potential agenda for academicians and research organizations for future research.