Regional Peer Effect of Dividend Policy of Listed Companies

The dividend policy of listed companies has a significant regional peer effect, and there are significant differences in the level of corporate dividend payment among provinces and regions. Based on the logical imitation rate and the law of imitation series, learning imitation and competitive imitation are the internal mechanisms of the group effect in the dividend policy area of listed companies, and the level of regional dividend payment has a more significant impact on the non-leading firms, low-growth firms and under-valued firms. The degree of regional marketization and the level of regional economic development have positive effects on the regional peer effect of dividend policy of listed companies. It is suggested that the supervisory authorities should conduct targeted guidance and standard management, and appropriately enhance the guidance for non-leading, low-growth and under-valued enterprises with more significant regional peer effect, so as to facilitate the rational decision-making of their dividend distribution behavior. Meanwhile, attention should be paid to standardizing the dividend distribution behavior of the leading enterprises in the region, creating an orderly regional environment and market atmosphere, helping investors formulate a scientific and rational portfolio of investment strategies, and urging the enterprise managers to perfect the governance ideas, the external governance mechanisms as well as the internal governance structures.