Samsung Electronics says it will increase shareholder returns following calls to reform its governance structure.

The South Korean company said Tuesday that it will boost dividends by 30 percent from 2015 to about 4 trillion won ($3.4 billion) for the full year of 2016. That is about half of its free cash flow this year.

Samsung also promised to strengthen corporate governance procedures in its board. It will invite one new independent member to the company's board and create a new governance committee comprised of independent board members.

The move comes after U.S. activist hedge fund Elliott Management Corp. asked Samsung last month to improve Samsung's corporate governance and to simplify its complicated ownership structure by splitting into a holding company and an operating company.