Family Ownership and Dividend Policy: evidence from the Market for Alternative Investment in Thailand

This study examines if and how family ownership influences dividend policy in the Market for Alternative Investment (MAI) in Thailand. The sample includes all small medium firms listed in MAI in 2017 and 2018. The findings show that there is no significant relationship between family ownership and dividend pay-out, while there is a positive relationship between firm profitability and dividend pay-out. They also show that there is not significant relationship between family ownership, measured as percentage of family ownership in the top ten shareholders of the firm, and dividend yield; but there is a positive relationship between family ownership, measured as percentage of family ownership in the board of directors, and dividend yield. These findings contribute to the literature on the advantages and disadvantages of family ownership as they provide empirical evidence on how family ownership significantly influences the dividend policies in MAI. They show that family ownership significantly affects dividend yield and that its effect changes with the operationalization of family ownership that the researcher adopts.