Research On The Influence Of Media Attention To Cash Dividend Payment In Chinese A-Share Market

Dividend policy,as one of the core financial decisions of modern enterprises,is an important way for investors to enjoy the results of investment income.Cash dividends,as a true dividend payment method,will not only reflect the profitability and operating results of the enterprises,but also affect the enterprises' reputation and image directly.However,there is still no perfect explanation of why enterprises pay dividends.The existing research on the influencing factors of dividend policy mainly focuses on three aspects:company characteristics,corporate governance,and the macro environment and policy.Few studies have examined the influencing factors of cash dividend from the perspective of media attention.This paper through theory of principal agency,signal transmission,reputation mechanism,agenda setting,using the data of the pure dividend policy from authoritative newspapers in China,introducing media attention to the research framework,to reveal the mechanism and path about how media attention affects cash dividend payment behaviors.At the same time,Logit regression and Tobit regression are used to test the impact of media attention on the willingness and intensity of cash dividend payment of listed companies in China's A-share market.This article uses all media reports on cash dividends of listed companies in A-share market from the seven authoritative financial newspapers in China from 2009 to 2018.Screening each report's attitude towards the company's cash dividends,dividing the media attention attitude into negative and non-negative,and examining the impact of media attention in two different attitudes on cash dividend payment behavior.And using the dummy variable of ownership as the moderator of the relationship between media attention and cash dividend payment behavior.Starting from three perspectives:total media attention,negative and non-negative media attention,we systematically examined the impact of media attention on the company's cash dividend payment behaviors under different ownership.In addition,the impact of media attention on the cash dividend payment behaviors before and after China's IPO expansion is also studied in further analysis.The research shows that:(1)The total media attention has a significant positive correlation with the willingness and intensity of cash dividend payments.The companies with higher media attention have a higher willingness to pay cash dividends,and the more cash dividends per share are paid,the dividend payout ratio is higher.That is,the media attention has a positive effect on the cash dividend payment behavior of China's A-share market.(2)Compared with non-negative media attention,the negative media attention has a significant positive impact on cash dividend payment behaviors.When the negative media attention of listed companies is higher,they are more inclined to pay cash dividends actively.(3)Verifying the mediating function of the ownership in media attention,whether from the perspective of total media attention or negative or non-negative media attention,it is found that compared with non-state-owned enterprises,media attention has a positive impact on the willingness and intensity of cash dividend payment in state-owned enterprises.The research in this article proves that the media attention has a positive effect on corporate governance.It provides media attention to issues such as the infringement of investors' interests by listed companies,and provides new ideas for the healthy operation of the capital market:(1)The state should intensify its efforts to supervise and govern the media reporting environment,and support the media to speak up and dare to report the true news.(2)Encourage the media to invest more resources at the micro level of company,especially about cash dividends.The exposure of "iron rooster" companies and "micro-dividend"companies should be increased,to promote corporate normative behavior with market pressure.(3)In view of the fact that state-owned enterprises' governance is usually lower than that of non-state-owned enterprises,it is recommended that state-owned enterprises should improve the implementation standards of the term assessment system and improve the level of corporate governance.