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The authors measure the cost of equity to earnings yield differential for a sample of 2,035 non-financial firms. In a series of Logit and Tobit regressions, the authors examine if the cost of equity to earnings yield differential is related to dividend policy in the manner predicted by agency theory.

Agency theory says a firm's optimal dividend policy is partially determined by the relationship between the earnings yield and the cost of equity capital. When the cost of equity is higher (lower) than the earnings yield, firms are motivated to (not) pay dividends as this reduces the cost of capital and holding other things constant, increases corporate valuations. The authors test whether managers set dividend policies to maximize the value of the firm.

The study’s findings show that when the cost of equity is higher (lower) than earnings yield, firms are more (less) likely to be dividend payers and the payouts are higher (lower). The results are robust to the inclusion of share repurchases as an alternative to cash distributions. The study’s findings support the cost of equity hypothesis and are consistent with alternative dividend theories.

The study’s findings support the cost of equity hypothesis and are consistent with alternative dividend theories. To the authors’ knowledge, this is the first paper testing the cost of equity hypothesis.

This paper examines the effect of managerial insider trading on analyst forecast accuracy, dispersion and bias. Specifically, the authors test whether insider-trading information is positively associated with the precision of earnings forecasts. In addition, this relationship between Regulation Fair Disclosure (FD) and the Galleon insider trading case is examined.

Pooled ordinary least squares (Pooled OLS) rregressions with year-fixed effects, firm-fixed effects, and firm-level clustered standard errors are used. Our proxies for forecast precision are regressed on alternative measures of insider trading activities and a vector of control variables.

Insider-trading information is positively associated with the precision of earnings forecasts. Analysts provide better forecast accuracy, less forecast dispersion and lower forecast bias among firms with insider trading in the six months leading to the forecast issues. In addition, bullish (bearish) insider trades are associated with increased (decreased) forecast bias. Insider trading information complements analysts' independent opinion and increases the precision of their forecast.

Regulators may pursue rules that promote the rapid disclosure of managerial insider trades, particularly given the increasing availability of Internet tools. Securities regulators may attempt to increase transparency and enhance the reporting procedures of corporate insiders, for example, using Internet sources with direct release to the public to ensure more timely information dissemination.

The authors document a positive association between earnings forecast precision and managerial insider trading up to six months prior to the forecast issue. This relationship is stronger after the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) prohibited the selective disclosure of material nonpublic information through Regulation FD. In addition, the association between insider trading and forecast accuracy has weakened after the Galleon insider trading case.

Using the small-business loan market, this paper aims to test whether a structural shift in access to borrowers’ financial information (i.e. credit ratings) improves market efficiency, thereby improving entrepreneurs’ access to external capital.

This research uses the National Survey of Small Business Finance in a conditional logistic regression framework to tease out the marginal propensity to grant lines of credit given the firm’s credit rating – treating both of the events, namely, line of credit and credit ratings, as endogenous variables. This methodology overcomes potential reverse causality issues.

The results show that information brokers have allowed small firms to break away from long-term monopolistic lending relationships, thus contributing to more informationally efficient markets. Small businesses benefit from better-informed lenders by having better access to capital. Also, women appear less likely to receive a line of credit even after adjusting for credit ratings.

This research highlights the importance of credit report awareness/monitoring by entrepreneurs, as the small-business credit rating grows rapidly. Relationship lending is not enough to reach optimal financing costs. These papers call for more regulated credit ratings industry to reduce potential moral hazards.

This paper tests whether bank lending relationships (soft information) still matter after accounting for credit ratings (hard information). Additionally, this study measures the extent to which information sharing by data services bureaus, a proxy for informational efficiency, has increased allocation efficiency in the small-business loan market.

The purpose of this paper is to assess the performance of a contrarian investment strategy focusing on frequently traded large-cap US stocks. Previous criticisms that losers’ gains are not due to overreaction but due to their tendency to be thinly traded and smaller-sized firms than winners are addressed.

Portfolios based on past performance are constructed and it is examined whether contrarian returns exist. The Capital Asset Pricing Model (CAPM), Fama and French three-factor model and the Carhart’s (1997) momentum portfolio are used to test whether excess returns are feasible in a contrarian strategy.

The results show an asymmetric performance following portfolio formation. Although both, winners and losers portfolios, have gains during holding periods, losers outperform winners at all times, and with a differential of up to 29.2 per cent 36 months after portfolio formation. Furthermore, the loser and the winner portfolios’ alphas are significant, suggesting that the CAPM and the multifactor models are unable to explain return differentials between winners and losers. Our evidence supports two main conclusions. First, stock market overreaction still holds for a sample of large firms. Second, this is robust to the Fama and French’s (1993, 1996) three-factor model and Carhart’s (1997) momentum portfolio. Findings emphasize the relevance of a contrarian strategy when rebalancing investment portfolios.

Portfolio managers can improve stock returns by selling past winners and buying previous loser large-cap US stocks.

This paper is the first, to the authors’ knowledge, to examine frequently traded large-cap US stocks to avoid infrequent trading and size concerns.

This study aims to conduct a comprehensive bibliometric analysis to determine the intellectual structure of cross-listing studies and suggests a road map for future research in this field.

A step-by-step procedure was carried out. With the help of a defined search string, 580 articles from reputed journals have been retrieved from the Scopus database. Bibliographic coupling and keyword analysis were executed to understand the current research scenario and future research directions in this research field. In addition, R Studio combined with VOSviewer was employed to analyse and visualise the data.

The results provide a deeper insight into publication trends, most prolific countries, institutions and journals in the area of cross-listing. The highest collaboration was observed between the authors in the USA and Canada. Moreover, the results contradict Bradford's and Lotka's laws. A thorough review of the literature identifies five clusters in this domain. Finally, keyword analysis offers a future road map in cross-listing research.

Researchers have shown greater interest in cross-listing topics over the past decades. Even though the research volume on this subject is increasing, the current retrospective is still insufficient. To the best of the authors' knowledge, this study is the first to provide valuable insights to practitioners, academicians, and prospective researchers about the intellectual structure of cross-listing and also offers future avenues in this research field through bibliometric analysis.

This study aims to intend toward the measurement of corporate governance to identify its maturity levels within Omani public listed companies and also propose to identify whether corporate governance maturity (CGM) levels vary significantly between sectors or not. CGM is an innovation in the field of corporate governance, which assists organizations in achieving their objectives and satisfying shareholders.

This study used descriptive cross-sectional survey design. Data are collected by the internet-based tool and analyzed via SPSS.

This study found that corporate governance is measurable and can be measured to the levels of maturity. Moreover, this study identified that CGM does not differ among different sectors. From a total of 107 organizations, none of the organizations falls under the forming level and mature level. However, majority of organizations falls under normalized level followed by developing and established levels of maturity.

This study integrates significant empirical research and literature to broaden the potentials of CGM. This study provides a framework along with a calculation tool, which can be used by organizations, regulators and policymakers.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, the maturity levels of Omani organizations are never being measured before. Moreover, past studies demonstrate single constituent relationship with CGM and not all four. Therefore, this study is distinctive from others by testing all four major components or constituents toward CGM.

The paper aims to investigate the role of corporate governance in the relationship between small businesses financing choice decisions on the business performance.

The paper was situated within the financial growth cycle theory and stewardship theory and survey approach was adopted for data collection. The statistical analysis was conducted by using partial least square structural equation modelling.

The results indicate that the interaction of corporate governance and financing choice decisions strengthens the performance relationship. Further, corporate governance mediates the positive relationship between financing choice decisions and performance. Thus, suggesting that corporate governance can carry the effect of the financing choice decisions to business performance.

The findings of our research reveal that, small businesses who follow solid corporate governance procedures should expect higher business performance. This is because financing decisions alone will not assure positive business performance unless they are tied to a broader perspective of effective corporate governance practices.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study that contributes to the small business financing choice and performance literature by combining the strengths of financial growth cycle theory and stewardship theory to explain the financing choice decisions and, in particular, the role of corporate governance in the relationship. Further, the study is unique in its nature because it presents a successful model for small businesses in emerging economies to concentrate more on the role of corporate governance in enhancing business performance.