Dividend Policy, Profitability, Investment Decisions and Firm Value in Emerging Markets a Bibliometric and Systematic Literature Review

Abstract

This study maps and synthesizes research on dividend policy, profitability, investment decisions, and firm value in emerging markets. The review addresses fragmented findings and limited integration among these financial decisions. Using a bibliometric and systematic literature review design based on the PRISMA framework, 60 open-access Scopus journal articles were retained for bibliometric mapping, while 48 direct or mechanism-related studies supported qualitative synthesis. VOSviewer and content analysis were used to examine publication trends, methods, theories, thematic structures, and relationship patterns. The findings show rapid publication growth after 2022, concentration in Asian emerging-market contexts, and dominance of panel regression, mediation analysis, and generalized method of moments. Firm value and profitability form the intellectual core, linked with dividend policy, investment decisions, governance, ESG, capital structure, and financial performance. The study’s novelty lies in integrating these findings into a connected capital-allocation framework in which profitability generates resources, dividend policy governs distribution or retention, and investment decisions allocate retained resources, while institutional and governance conditions shape their translation into firm value.