Dividend Versus Investment – Cash Flow Allocation

The aim of the article is to find out about the pattern in which operating cash flows are allocated between dividends and investment. We analyzed 419 companies from the Warsaw Stock Exchange and covered the period of 2007-2020 with 4,760 firm-year observations. We prepared regression models for the...

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Main Authors: Elżbieta Bukalska, Anna Maziarczyk, Kinga Ociesa
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: University of Warsaw 2022-12-01
Series:Journal of Banking and Financial Economics
Subjects:
Online Access:https://press.wz.uw.edu.pl/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1014&context=jbfe
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author Elżbieta Bukalska
Anna Maziarczyk
Kinga Ociesa
author_facet Elżbieta Bukalska
Anna Maziarczyk
Kinga Ociesa
author_sort Elżbieta Bukalska
collection DOAJ
description The aim of the article is to find out about the pattern in which operating cash flows are allocated between dividends and investment. We analyzed 419 companies from the Warsaw Stock Exchange and covered the period of 2007-2020 with 4,760 firm-year observations. We prepared regression models for the dividend and investment ratio depending on the company specificity. We found a positive relation between dividends and investment. Additionally, we found that with the increase of operating cash flow, both dividends and investment increase. We think that the best explanation of our findings lies in the free cash flow hypothesis and signaling theory of dividends. Dividends and investment might be a tool to mitigate managerial decisions and at the same time a tool to send a positive signal to the investor about the present and future good financial situation. The results contribute to the literature on firms’ investment- and dividend-cash flow sensitivity and the order of decisions: in a residual dividend policy, investment decisions are made first and the remaining profit is paid out as dividends while another theoretical approach implies that firms decide first on their dividend level, and then make investment decisions as they are reluctant to cut dividends.
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institution Kabale University
issn 2353-6845
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publisher University of Warsaw
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series Journal of Banking and Financial Economics
spelling doaj-art-7044936bd4964820b9df3883e651ebec2025-01-03T00:54:43ZengUniversity of WarsawJournal of Banking and Financial Economics2353-68452022-12-0120222(18)9410810.7172/2353-6845.jbfe.2022.2.7Dividend Versus Investment – Cash Flow AllocationElżbieta Bukalska0https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8097-5964Anna Maziarczyk1https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8485-0915Kinga Ociesa2https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4973-1990Faculty of Economics, Maria Curie-Skłodowska University in LublinFaculty of Economics, Maria Curie-Skłodowska University in LublinFaculty of Management, Department of Finance and Accounting, Lublin University of TechnologyThe aim of the article is to find out about the pattern in which operating cash flows are allocated between dividends and investment. We analyzed 419 companies from the Warsaw Stock Exchange and covered the period of 2007-2020 with 4,760 firm-year observations. We prepared regression models for the dividend and investment ratio depending on the company specificity. We found a positive relation between dividends and investment. Additionally, we found that with the increase of operating cash flow, both dividends and investment increase. We think that the best explanation of our findings lies in the free cash flow hypothesis and signaling theory of dividends. Dividends and investment might be a tool to mitigate managerial decisions and at the same time a tool to send a positive signal to the investor about the present and future good financial situation. The results contribute to the literature on firms’ investment- and dividend-cash flow sensitivity and the order of decisions: in a residual dividend policy, investment decisions are made first and the remaining profit is paid out as dividends while another theoretical approach implies that firms decide first on their dividend level, and then make investment decisions as they are reluctant to cut dividends.https://press.wz.uw.edu.pl/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1014&context=jbfecash flowdividendinvestmentcorporate investmentdividend payouts
spellingShingle Elżbieta Bukalska
Anna Maziarczyk
Kinga Ociesa
Dividend Versus Investment – Cash Flow Allocation
Journal of Banking and Financial Economics
cash flow
dividend
investment
corporate investment
dividend payouts
title Dividend Versus Investment – Cash Flow Allocation
title_full Dividend Versus Investment – Cash Flow Allocation
title_fullStr Dividend Versus Investment – Cash Flow Allocation
title_full_unstemmed Dividend Versus Investment – Cash Flow Allocation
title_short Dividend Versus Investment – Cash Flow Allocation
title_sort dividend versus investment cash flow allocation
topic cash flow
dividend
investment
corporate investment
dividend payouts
url https://press.wz.uw.edu.pl/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1014&context=jbfe
work_keys_str_mv AT elzbietabukalska dividendversusinvestmentcashflowallocation
AT annamaziarczyk dividendversusinvestmentcashflowallocation
AT kingaociesa dividendversusinvestmentcashflowallocation