Corporate Governance Quality, Board Gender Diversity and Corporate Dividend Policy: Evidence from Jordan

This paper examines the impact of corporate governance quality and board gender diversity on the corporate dividend policy for a set of all non-financial companies listed on Amman Stock Exchange (ASE) during the period 2009-2015. The results documented that corporate governance quality and board gender diversity proxies have positive impact on corporate dividend policy. The results also showed that the women representation on the boards of non-financial companies in Jordan is considered low relative to other countries. Particularly, the causes of the poor board gender diversity in Jordan range from lack of awareness about the benefits of gender diversity to the lack of legislation that regulates this issue. It is recommended to non-financial companies in Jordan to boost their compliance with the corporate governance code and adopt diversity policies to enhance the effectiveness of the boards and keep favorable relationships with their shareholders. Furthermore, regulatory bodies in Jordan should take a step towards encouraging gender diversity on boards

Corporate Governance Quality and Earnings Management: Evidence from Jordan

This paper investigates the effect of corporate governance quality on earnings management in Jordan. Using a panel data set of all industrial and service firms listed on Amman Stock Exchange (ASE) during the period 2009-2013; this paper provides evidence that earnings management is affected negatively by corporate governance quality. In particular; the results show that earnings management is affected negatively by overall categories of governance index represented by board of director, board meeting, Audit and nomination and compensation committee. Furthermore, results suggest that corporate governance quality has increased over time. Thus, its ability to constrain earnings management has also increased. It is recommended to industrial and service companies to boost their compliance with corporate governance code to improve the integrity and reliability of financial reports. This paper fills a gap in the literature by providing evidence about the effect of corporate governance quality on earnings management in Jordan as an emerging economy