Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to identify the determinants of dividend policy in an emerging and developing market.Design/methodology/approach: The study employs a quantitative approach using 191 Sri Lankan firms and 1,337 firm-year observations as the sample. The authors apply a Binary Logistic Regression model to uncover the determinants of the propensity to pay dividends, and a Fixed Effect Panel Regression to investigate the determinants of dividend payout.Findings: The authors identify past dividend decision, earnings, investment opportunities, profitability, free cash flow (FCF), corporate governance, state ownership, firm size and industry influence as the key determinants of propensity to pay dividends. In addition past dividends, investment opportunities, profitability and dividend premium are identified as the determinants of dividend payout. Moreover, there is a feedback between dividend yield and profitability in one lag and between dividend yield and dividend premium in two lags, as short-term relationships. Hence, past dividend decision or payout, profitability and investment opportunities are a common set of determinants with implications for both propensity to pay dividends and its payout. The findings support theories of dividends such as signaling, outcome, catering, life cycle, FCF and pecking order.Practical implications: The findings are important for investors, managers and future research. Investors should focus on the determinants identified by our study when making investment decisions whereas managers should practice the same when formulating appropriate dividend policies for their firms. Future research should rely on propensity to pay dividends and its payout simultaneously to promote a theoretical consensus on the dividend determinant puzzle.Originality/value: This is the first study that investigates determinants of propensity to pay dividends and dividend payout along with short-term relationships in a single study.

This study aims to explore and examine an integrated model predicting digital agility in higher education institutions. In the exploratory phase, semi-structured interviews were conducted with the heads of the institutions to understand their challenges in ensuring digital agility at work in higher education institutions. In the second phase, the integrated model derived from codes taken from interview responses was developed. The first study round identified factors affecting digital agility from word cloud and thematic analysis using grounded theory. Based on the common codes, themes were developed, and an integrated model comprising digital transformational leadership, internal branding, and digital self-efficacy was developed. Then, established measures were taken to test the model, while a novel scale was developed to measure digital agility. Hierarchical regression analysis indicated that digital transformational leadership impacts digital agility with intervening roles of internal branding and digital self-efficacy.

The purpose of this study is to present a systematic literature review and offer a future research agenda on food acquisition and consumption of South Asian countries. The first section offers a comprehensive systematic literature review with a documentation analysis using PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses) guidelines. The study identifies several contemporary issues pertaining to food acquisition and consumption in these countries and proposes several research themes such as food quality standard issues, food security issues, food nutrition issues, organic food consumption patterns, dietary diversity and food intake issues. The second section includes a future research agenda on food acquisition and consumption patterns on the key constructs, context and methodology. This study contributed to the existing literature by offering several contemporary issues and the scope of future research areas pertaining to food acquisition and consumption, which may help policy makers, practitioners and scholars in investigating the solutions.

The study aims to explore competitive capabilities that enable sustainability practices in the Apparel Industry in the Sri Lankan context. It employs an exploratory approach using the case study method. The study discloses six competitive capabilities: organizational climate, operational flexibility, technological competency, alliance and partnership, knowledge sharing, and learning capabilities which drives twenty-four sustainable practices explored in ten categories: water conservation, energy conservation, carbon footprint reduction, fabric waste management, use of environment-friendly materials, controlling mechanism for suppliers, controlling mechanism for leasing/sub-contracting manufacturing plants, reduce the polluted air release, transportation, and ensuring the well-being of the people. Companies in the apparel industry should inculcate a supportive organizational climate, maintain operational flexibility, invest in required technology, maintain healthy relationships in the supply chain, share knowledge and encourage learning to adopt sustainable practices in the Apparel Industry. This study is the first to explore the specific competitive capabilities that bring respective sustainable practices in the Apparel Industry in a South Asian country.