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Back to the future of intellectual capital research: a systematic literature review

Eugénia Pedro (Department of Management and Economics, NECE – Research Center in Business Sciences, University of Beira Interior, Covilhã, Portugal)
João Leitão (Department of Management and Economics, NECE – Research Center in Business Sciences, University of Beira Interior, Covilhã, Portugal) (CEG-IST, Instituto Superior Técnico, C-MAST, University of Lisbon, Lisbon, Portugal) (Instituto Multidisciplinar de Empresa, Universidad de Salamanca, Salamanca, Spain) (C-MAST, University of Beira Interior, Covilhã, Portugal)
Helena Alves (Department of Management and Economics, NECE – Research Center in Business Sciences, University of Beira Interior, Covilhã, Portugal)

Management Decision

ISSN: 0025-1747

Article publication date: 28 June 2018

Issue publication date: 23 October 2018

2547

Abstract

Purpose

For better mapping the path of intellectual capital (IC) research, the purpose of this paper is to selectively review empirical studies of IC published, and identify theories, components and three dimensions of analysis: national IC (NIC), regional IC (RIC) and organizational IC (OIC).

Design/methodology/approach

The systematic literature review (SLR) subject to analysis is based on empirical studies made between 1960 and 2016, and focuses on three dimensions of analysis: NIC, RIC and OIC. Four research questions were designed, using the following databases, namely, Web of Science, Scopus and Google Scholar, for data collection purposes.

Findings

The SLR unveils a multidimensional taxonomy for measuring and classifying the type of IC applicable to the different levels of analysis and provides some recommendations for future studies of NIC, RIC and OIC, by outlining the need for clear definitions of components and measures of IC and identifying strengths, limitations and future research avenues.

Originality/value

In order to fill the gap found in the literature and the non-existence of a study clarifying the multiple dimensions of analysis of IC, this SLR makes a twofold, original contribution to the literature on management: providing an SLR of the main empirical studies dealing with different units of analysis; and identifying a multidimensional taxonomy for measuring and classifying the type of IC applicable to the different levels of analysis.

Keywords

Acknowledgements

This paper forms part of a special section Special Review Issue.

The authors are grateful to the editor and the anonymous reviewers for providing very constructive and useful comments that enabled us to make additional efforts to improve the clarity and quality of our research. The first author acknowledges the support given by Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT) and by Programa Operacional Capital Humano (POCH): financing co-participated by Fundo Social Europeu (FSE) and funds of the Ministério da Educação e da Ciência (MEC) (grant number SFRH/BD/107927/2015). The second author also acknowledges the grant given by Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia: SFRH/BSAB/127908/2016.

Citation

Pedro, E., Leitão, J. and Alves, H. (2018), "Back to the future of intellectual capital research: a systematic literature review", Management Decision, Vol. 56 No. 11, pp. 2502-2583. https://doi.org/10.1108/MD-08-2017-0807

Publisher

:

Emerald Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2018, Emerald Publishing Limited

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