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Progress in human resources accounting must continue to find a clear constructive definition of terms pertaining to human capital and human assets. The present paper is comprised of considerations leading to the proposal of more general definitions of capital that involve human capital. As a complement to Fisher's concept of capital measurement, the present definition explains capital based on the capitalization process. Capitalization should be viewed as an essential attribute of capital. Human resources accounting (HRA) can benefit from improvements in the definition of certain terms related to human capital. Of particular importance is a proposal of a more general definition of capital. The definition leads to an alternative measure,which is more useful in the HRA field than the Lev‐Schwartz model. The proposed measure compliments Fisher's concept of capital measurement and utilizes a compound interest approach. Capital is perceived as a value of economic means capitalized in physical and human resources. The rate of capitalization is determined through natural and social conditions of the environment. The mode of capital measurement results from the above definitions. Moreover, the measure of human capital appears as a generalization of the historical cost concept. The valuation model of human capital involves capitalized costs of living, costs of professional education and value of experience measured by a slightly modified learning curve. Having human capital redefined and measured in these terms, we can introduce human resources into the balance sheet using a set of relevant journal entries.

The purpose of this paper is to elaborate the feasibility of market based estimations of the value of human capital in firms.

The concept of intangible assets and market‐based valuation of human capital is presented. Cases of extreme estimates of human capital values are presented. The possibility of extremely low or even negative human capital values is examined.

It is demonstrated that odd human capital values can be explained by referring to principles of valuating fixed assets and intangible liability.

The paper demonstrates that market‐based methods for estimating the value of human capital of the firm can be feasible despite the existence of very odd human capital values.

The findings of the paper adds to the discussion of how to valuate human capital in intellectual capital accounts in general and human capital accounts in particular.

Firm-specific human capital (FSHC) has been an integral part of the vocabulary in the strategy field. Many scholars argue that FSHC inhibits employee mobility and drives employee retention at a discount, value appropriation, and firms' competitive advantage. FSHC also plays a central role in the resource-based view of the firm. In recent years, however, a significant debate has emerged on the validity and usefulness of the construct. The purpose of the chapter is to revisit this debate and discuss both challenges and opportunities related to FSHC. In a form of conversation, we take aim at FSHC from different angles and discuss its role as a mobility friction, in value appropriation of established firms, in the context of transitions between paid employment and entrepreneurship, and in the views of practitioners. While we agree that our understanding of the concept of FSHC must evolve, we continue to see its value in our theoretical toolbox.

Economic theory posits that production factors that are both difficult to imitate and capable of creating organizational efficiencies can generate economic rents and sustain long-term competitive advantage. Using survey data for 106 firms, we measure four dimensions of strategic human capital and find that the market values strategic human capital that has the capability to create efficiencies in the organization and is also difficult for competitors to imitate. We discuss implications for the reporting of human capital in intellectual capital reports and offer suggestions for future research.

The purpose of this paper is to derive a measure for the performance of human resource shared service providers (HR SSPs) and then to develop a theoretical framework that conceptualises their performance.

This conceptual paper starts from the HR shared services argument and integrates this with the knowledge‐based view of the firm and the concept of intellectual capital.

The authors recommend measuring HR SSP performance as HR value, referring to the ratio between use value and exchange value, that together reflect both transactional and transformational HR value. They argue that transactional HR value directly flows from the organisational capital in HR SSPs, whereas human and social capitals enable them to leverage their organisational capital for HR value creation. The authors argue that the human capital of HR SSPs has a direct effect on transformational HR value creation, while their social and organisational capitals positively moderate this relationship.

The suggested measure paves the way for operationalising and measuring the performance of HR shared services providers. This paper offers testable propositions for the relationships between intellectual capital and the performance of HR shared service providers. These contributions could assist future research to move beyond the descriptive nature that characterises the existing literature.

The purpose of this paper is to derive a measure for the performance of human resource shared service providers (HR SSPs) and then to develop a theoretical framework that conceptualises their performance.

This conceptual paper starts from the HR shared services argument and integrates this with the knowledge‐based view of the firm and the concept of intellectual capital.

The authors recommend measuring HR SSP performance as HR value, referring to the ratio between use value and exchange value, that together reflect both transactional and transformational HR value. They argue that transactional HR value directly flows from the organisational capital in HR SSPs, whereas human and social capitals enable them to leverage their organisational capital for HR value creation. They argue that the human capital of HR SSPs has a direct effect on transformational HR value creation, while their social and organisational capitals positively moderate this relationship.

The suggested measure paves the way for operationalising and measuring the performance of HR shared services providers. The paper offers testable propositions for the relationships between intellectual capital and the performance of HR shared service providers. These contributions could assist future research to move beyond the descriptive nature that characterises the existing literature.

The purpose of this paper is to deal with the conceptualization and measurement of the economic value of what we have termed “human capital of the third kind”, i.e. corporate culture. It also seeks to draw upon empirical research from the field of culture management to show how the economic value of human capital of the third kind can be measured.

The paper presents a theoretical framework as well as some empirical research to show how economic value of the third kind can be measured.

This has provided a different conceptualization of human capital relevant to human resources accounting. It has presented a typology of human capital consisting of three types: the economic value of individuals; the economic value of groups or teams; and the economic value of the total human organization. The paper also summarized an empirical investigation relevant to the economic value of human capital of the third kind. The results of this empirical investigation provide support for the notion that culture, or human capital of the third kind, is a significant component of overall financial success. While the results are not completely definitive, they do provide statistically significant evidence of the impact of culture as a component of human capital. This, in turn, opens the way to a new approach to human resource accounting and value measurement.

Based on this finding, we can conclude that human capital of the third kind (corporate culture) can be measured and that it does have a statistically significant impact upon financial performance. This opens the way to a new direction in human resource accounting.

This paper presents a redefinition of the overall global concept of human capital, and points the way to a new direction for future research in human resource accounting.

The purpose of this paper is to draw attention to value‐creating processes and their impacts on human capital valuation in high‐contact service industries.

The main argument in this paper is developed from existing theoretical and empirical research in the fields of intellectual capital, organizational behavior, marketing, and economics. This paper is conceptual and the approach adopted is analytical. Extant research and concepts have been used to develop a human capital valuation model in high‐contact service industries and to discuss both research and managerial implications.

Provides conceptual description of a value matrix that can be employed to identify more accurately value drivers of human capital in various industries.

The article provides a novel conceptualization of value drivers in industry. A limitation of the paper is that it is conceptual.

This paper provides a useful tool to identify human capital value drivers in various industries. The value matrix can help group industries based on these value characteristics making comparisons across and within industries more readily available.

The article proposes a novel way to analyze value addition and transfer in industries. It moves extant research further by outlining a mechanism to identify relevant drivers of human capital with increased precision.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate if human capital information voluntarily provided by German companies is value‐relevant.

By means of word‐based content analysis, human capital information is extracted from German companies’ annual reports. Subsequently, the value relevance of the disclosed human capital information is analyzed by applying two established valuation models.

The results show that human capital information is value‐relevant. Especially, information on qualification and competence issues is positively associated with firm value. Nonetheless, the disclosed information does not lead to short‐term changes in market value. Consequently, human capital information is value‐relevant but not immediately.

First, companies can improve their valuation on the capital market by disclosing information on their human capital. Second, standard setters can use this paper's results in defining relevant information categories for human capital disclosures. Third, the amount of human capital disclosures is increasing over time.

This study explicitly evaluates the value relevance of the overall (especially nonfinancial) human capital information voluntarily provided in corporate annual reports.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the effects of emerging market professional service small and medium-sized enterprises’ (PSF SME) internal competencies and capabilities on their ability to establish relationship value among clients and achieve superior financial performance. This study addresses the paucity of research on emerging market PSF SMEs and their ability to build value for their clients.

Data were collected from 251 senior managers or owners of PSF SMEs who were from an emerging market economy but had operations in various foreign markets. The two-step structural equation modeling procedure was used to analyze the data and investigate the hypothesized relationships.

The results show the positive impacts of the PSF SME’s human capital on innovativeness, service capabilities and relationship value. Human capital also had indirect positive impacts on relationship value and financial performance. Service capabilities were found to have a positive impact on relationship value and financial performance. In addition, innovativeness was found to have a positive impact on financial performance.

Emerging market PSF SMEs can gain competitive advantages and build solid long-term relationships with clients in the global marketplace when they focus on strengthening their human capital resources and successfully leveraging their innovativeness and service capabilities.

The study fills a gap in international business and management literature by offering guidance on how emerging market PSF SMEs can effectively use their internal resources and capabilities to build solid relationships with clients, deliver superior services and achieve global marketplace success.