Impact of state and foreign ownership and free cash flow on dividend policy within a governance context

This study investigates the impact of state ownership (SO), foreign ownership (FO), and free cash flow (FCF) on dividend policies of Vietnamese-listed companies from 2014 to 2023. Furthermore, control variables are also included in the model, including firm age (AGE), firm size (SIZE), current ratio (CUR), quick ratio (QR), return on assets (ROA), asset turnover ratio (ATR), and COVID-19 (COVID19). To examine this impact, we conducted various statistical methods, including pooled ordinary least squares (OLS), fixed-effects model (FEM), random-effects model (REM), and feasible generalized least squares (FGLS) estimation analysis on 4,840 observations from 484 companies. We find that SO and FO positively influence both cash dividend yield (CDY) and dividend payout ratio (DPR) (Setiawan et al., 2016; Boshnak, 2021; Tnushi et al., 2023), while FCF shows no significant impact (Azfa & Mirza, 2010; Mughal & Muddasir, 2023). The study also reveals that the COVID-19 pandemic significantly affected dividend policies. These findings contribute to the understanding of dividend determinants in emerging markets and provide insights for policymakers and investors in the context of evolving ownership structures and external shocks.