The role of financial structure in the impact of dividend strategies on financial distress and discipline

<p style="text-align: left;"><strong>Purpose:</strong>&nbsp;The purpose of this research is to investigate the impact of dividend strategies on financial distress and discipline with the moderating role of financial structure. <p style="text-align: left;"><strong>Methodology:</strong>&nbsp;This research adopts a correlational approach, exploring relationships between variables through correlation coefficients. To collect the information needed to test the hypotheses from the documents of the companies, the data related to the companies were utilized the Rahavard Novin database. To investigate the relationship between the variables, the multiple regression method was used, and EViews software was used to perform the required tests. <p style="text-align: left;"><strong>Findings:</strong>&nbsp;The analysis revealed that dividend strategies have a negative and significant effect on financial distress. Dividend strategies do not have a significant effect on the financial discipline of companies. Financial structure has a positive and significant effect on the relationship between dividend strategies and financial distress. Financial structure does not affect the relationship between dividend strategies and financial discipline. <p style="text-align: left;"><strong>Originality:</strong>&nbsp;With more profit sharing in companies, the company's financial situation is at risk, and this can lead to financial distress. On the other hand, the status of the company's capital structure can affect this relationship.