Dividends are of strategic importance to organisations because they form the nexus of organisations’ capital structures and have an important bearing on firm value. Consequently, this study sought to investigate factors affecting dividend policy formulations and practices of South African banks by assessing the application of ex ante dividend theory literature on these firms. Our approach followed a mixed-methods design of analysis with a behavioural stand point of eliciting responses from banking experts through a survey. Findings indicate that factors relating to financial performance, investor needs and preferences and regulatory considerations are crucial for dividend decisions among banks. Overall, findings cast doubt on signalling, clientele and catering hypotheses, yet find favourable support for agency and lifecycle theories.

This paper presents the findings from a study on the dynamic and nuanced relationship between strategy theory and strategy practice in a South African context. Grounded in a strategy-as-practice perspective and based on an abductive analysis of sixteen semi-structured interviews, the empirical findings deepen our conceptual understanding of how the relationship between strategy theory and strategy practice is constituted. The findings further reveal how practice environments influence the effective use of academic knowledge and skills by graduates in the workplace. Primarily, strategy theory is foundational to effective strategy practice. We theorise that strategy practitioners construct the relevance of strategy theory through adaptation and bricolage to suit complex and eclectic practice contexts. The study findings confirm that strategy theory plays a critical role in shaping and guiding strategy practitioners’ praxis. As the ontic sites of knowledge and skills application, practice contexts are important for testing and validating academic knowledge and skills. In this relationship, strategy practitioners are the primary actors who transpose knowledge and skills from academe to business. What they become after completing a qualification is critical.