CEO Characteristics and Dividend Payout Policies: Evidence from Emerging Market

This study investigates the impact of CEO characteristics on the dividend policies of an emerging market, Oman. The research also provides insight into this relationship changes before and during the pandemic. A sample of 414 firm-year observations of listed non-financial firms is used for the period 2016 to 2021. The CEO characteristics include gender, education, nationality, narcissism and tenure. The results suggest that firms with male CEOs are more likely to have dividend payout for the firms in Oman. This relationship remains consistent before and during the pandemic. Firms with CEOs having bachelor’s/diploma degrees were also more likely to have more dividend payouts. This relationship becomes insignificant during the pandemic. Firms were likely to have more dividend payouts if their CEOs were expatriates but this relationship did not hold during the pandemic. CEO Narcissism and Tenure had no significant impact on the dividend policies of the firms in Oman. The results confirm the signaling theory that indicates dividends for future accounting earnings exist if there are male CEOs with a bachelor’s degree and are usually non-Omani’s.