Dividend distribution decisions are one of the important financial decision types that are still being discussed since the day corporate finance theories appeared. Cash dividend distribution is still one of the most widely used dividend distribution types in practice. This study aims to investigate the factors at the firm and country level that affect the cash dividend distribution decisions of firms with a data set obtained around the world. The data set of the study consists of 22,654 firms operating in 62 countries and a total of 163,599 observations from 2009 to 2019. According to the results of this research conducted with the method of the Ordinary Least Squares test; Firm-level variables such as profitability, size, cash, and research and development expenditures of firms have a significant and positive effect while leverage and firm risk have a significant and negative effect on cash dividend distribution decisions. In addition, it has been determined that domestic savings and the inflation rate of the countries in which the firms operate have a positive effect on dividend distribution decisions. Finally, it is seen that firms operating in countries that have adopted the common law as the legal structure of the country tend to distribute more dividends. Therefore, there are many countries and firms in this study so this situation significantly increased the number of observations of the study and provided robustness and reliability of the results. Hereby the number of observations, the selection of the variable group, and created of the model show the mighty and originality of this study. Furthermore, this study is thought to be a guide and contribute to the literature, practitioners, and existing and potential investors from a different perspective.

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Dividend distribution decisions, which are one of the important financial decision types, are still being discussed since the day corporate finance theories started to develop. Cash dividend distribution is still one of the most widely used dividend distribution types in practice. The aim of this study is to investigate the factors at the firm and country level that affect the cash dividend distribution decisions of companies with a data set created around the world. The data set of the study consists of 22,654 companies operating in 62 countries and a total of 163,599 observations between 2009-2019. According to the results of the research conducted with the Least Squares test method; profit share distribution decisions of firms, profitability, size, Firm-level variables such as cash and research and development expenditures have a significant and positive effect, while leverage and firm risk have a significant and negative effect. In addition, it has been determined that the inflation rate of the countries in which the companies operate and the amount of domestic savings have a positive effect on the dividend distribution decisions. Finally, it is seen that companies operating in countries that have adopted the Anglo-Saxon legal system as the legal structure of the country tend to distribute more dividends. Therefore, the high number of countries and companies in this study significantly increased the number of observations and increased the robustness and reliability of the results. Therefore, the number of observations, the selection of the variable group and the model created show the strength and originality of this study.