Effect of institutional quality on dividend policy of Southern African countries

South Africa’s economy ranks as the second biggest in Africa and the highest industrialised, technically sophisticated, and diverse in the continent. South Africa is one of just eight African nations with a sustainable economic background. After the lifting of over a decade of sanctions imposed in 1996, South Africa’s gross domestic product nearly quadrupled to its absolute peak of 416 bn US dollars in 2011. Institutional quality play a very important role in shaping corporate dividend policies. Numerous corporate finance literature works have endorsed the impact institutional quality in making firms’ dividend decisions. Considering their importance in the corporate world, the current study intends to comprehensively determine whether institutional quality affect financial policy. There is limited research in the domain of institution quality and dividend policies in the context of Southern Africa.

Keywords: Dividend policies, and institution quality