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Virginia Tech

Dividend Signaling and Sustainability

Abstract

dc:description.abstract

Since the 1970s, dividends have not only become less common (Fama and French, 2001), they have become less sticky, too. Today, it is not uncommon for a firm to cease dividend payments within three years of initiation. I examine the differences between firms that continue to pay dividends for a long period of time after initiation and those that do not. Although investors do not distinguish between the two groups at the time of the dividend initiation announcement, the firms that pay over a long period of time experience superior operating performance in subsequent years. I construct a model that predicts, at the time of the initiation announcement, whether a firm is likely to pay dividends well into the future. My predictions also extend to performance; the firms that I predict to pay for a long period of time also outperform those whose payments I predict to be temporary. Thus, it appears that the relationship between dividend stickiness and long-run performance is not fully reflected in stock returns surrounding the announcements of dividend initiations.

Degree

thesis:*
Name thesis:degree_name
Ph. D.
Level thesis:degree_level
doctoral
Discipline thesis:degree_discipline
Finance, Insurance, and Business Law
Department dc:contributor.department
Finance, Insurance, and Business Law
Grantor dc:publisher
Virginia Tech
Year dc:date.issued
2006

Author and committee

dc:creator, dc:contributor.*
Author dc:creator
  • Hobbs, Jeffrey
Chair dc:contributor.committeechair
  • Schneller, Meir I.
Committee members dc:contributor.committeemember
  • Kumar, Raman
  • Shome, Dilip K.
  • Gulen, Huseyin

Subjects

dc:subject × 3

Rights

dc:rights
Statement dc:rights
  • In Copyright

Identifiers

dc:identifier.*
Dc Identifier Other
etd-11072006-102402
OAI identifier oai:identifier
oai:vtechworks.lib.vt.edu:10919/29488

Chain of custody

source
Harvested from
Virginia Tech
Base URL
vtechworks.lib.vt.edu/oai/request
Last updated
2026-07-22
Source record
OAI-PMH GetRecord
citation

Hobbs, Jeffrey. Dividend Signaling and Sustainability. doctoral thesis, Virginia Tech, 2006. http://hdl.handle.net/10919/29488