Prof. Jing XIE
Review of Finance
Prof. Jing XIE, Associate Professor in Finance at the Faculty of Business Administration at the University of Macau (UM) and a member of the Financial Innovation Team at APAEM, published an article entitled “Investor communication and payout policy: a field experiment” in collaboration with Prof. Xiaoqiao Wang, Prof. Bohui Zhang, and Prof. Xiaofeng Zhao in Review of Finance (FT50, ABS4). Review of Finance is recognized as one of the top-five journals in the field of finance, it holds significant academic influence in the discipline.
Abstract:
We conduct a field experiment to examine whether brief, unsolicited messages can influence corporate dividend policies. Messages highlighting investor concerns rooted in four dividend theories were sent to publicly listed firms. We find that messages framed around agency concerns significantly increase dividend payouts among past payers, particularly those with weaker governance. This effect is robust across alternative specifications and validated by a post-experiment survey. In contrast, messages based on bird-in-hand, signaling, or tax-clientele theories have no significant impact. Our findings suggest that dividend policy is more malleable than traditionally assumed and highlight the role of managerial perceptions in financial decision-making.
For details: https://academic.oup.com/rof/article/29/6/1833/8276749