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The purpose of this paper is to reflect on the overall contribution made by the papers presented in this special edition of the Journal of Intellectual Capital.

This article is an editorial based on the author's reflections of the papers presented in this special edition.

Intellectual capital (IC) has a future, based not only on the third stage of IC research, which strengthens IC practices inside organisations, but also on a complementary fourth stage which develops IC eco‐systems.

the papers presented ground the third stage of IC research as a legitimate research undertaking, while at the same time recognising that we need to extend our IC missionary work beyond the boundaries of the organisation, and into the environment where organisations exist.

This paper aims to explore the awareness of terminology related to intellectual capital (IC) among executives of Indian banks and the sources in which they mostly find IC-related terminology. The paper also explores relative and specific contributions of each selected source of information in creating IC awareness among bank executives in India and determines difference among the executives from the public and private sector.

This research paper follows a survey-based approach to capture the perceptions of Indian bank managers working middle and top management across different banks. Regression analysis and ANOVA were applied to data from 166 responses.

The study finds that IC awareness among Indian banking executives is reasonably high and is equally spread across the three sub-categories of capital (external capital, human capital and internal capital), though the relative awareness of external capital is on the higher side. However, the sources of awareness of IC terminology differ among executives from the public- and private-sector banks.

The sample was limited to middle and top managers in the Indian banking industry and suffers from the usual limitations of survey-based research such as the design of the survey instrument and the personal biases of the respondents. Some limitations may also have arisen because of the definitions of IC elements adopted by this study.

This research adds a new dimension to the IC research by exploring the practical application and awareness of IC that deviates from traditional annual report-based disclosure and valuation studies. No existing literature has examined the survey-based awareness study, particularly on the banking industry. This paper provides a foundation for future studies that examine the operational awareness and application of IC in the service industries.

The purpose of this paper is to review and critique the current status of intellectual capital (IC) research as published in the Journal of Intellectual Capital (JIC) as it heads into its 15th year with a view to understanding the past and possible direction of future IC research.

Articles published in the JIC are reviewed building on prior IC research and analysis by Guthrie et al. (2012) and Dumay and Garanina (2013). To help understand the impact of articles in the JIC the analysis is supplemented by including citation data from google scholar, journal impact data from the SCImago Journal & Country Rank portal, and the 2013 Australian Business Dean's Council (ABDC) journal ranking list. Also included is commentary from the JIC's senior editors based on their responses to questions asked via e-mail relating to their involvement in, and the future of, the JIC.

The JIC faces a challenge as it is most recognised as an accounting journal despite its focus on managing IC. The research published in the JIC is multidisciplinary as it comes from a wide range of perspectives. However, there appears to be a paucity of research emanating from different perspectives, most notably from North American academics, and a lack of focus on the private and public sectors. However, new perspectives of IC, especially that associated with IC praxis and the third stage of IC research are emerging as transformational opportunities for future IC research, along with the opportunity to experiment with transdisciplinary research.

The paper presents a comprehensive critical review of the articles published in the JIC along with measuring the impact of the articles using citation data from google scholar. Using this approach, the type of research and its impacts can be simultaneously assessed to offer insights into future transformational IC research opportunities, and how IC researchers and the JIC can also be transformational.

Universities are proper knowledge institutions, since knowledge represents both the input and the output of their activities. Several guidelines have been issued by the European Union and national governments for the promotion of intellectual capital (IC) disclosure by universities. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the amount and nature of voluntary IC disclosure in Italian universities and to gauge the opinion of university managers on IC managing and reporting.

The study applies content analysis and a survey. The content analysis was applied to a group of voluntary social reports (SRs) issued by Italian universities, while the survey was submitted to all top managers of Italian universities.

The research found a significant amount of IC disclosure in SRs. Also, university top managers demonstrated an awareness of benefits deriving from IC managing and reporting practices, both for decision-making processes and to respond to stakeholder’s needs.

The current paper contributes to IC literature by providing an assessment of IC voluntary disclosure practices in Italian universities, analysing reports other than the annual report (which is the only document media analysed by research so far). Furthermore, while previous research has focussed on IC disclosure, the current study investigates the motivations for IC managing and provides insights into the benefits deriving from IC reporting in universities.

The purpose of this paper is to present the findings of a longitudinal study on the use of mandatory knowledge balance sheets (KBS) in Austrian public universities. It contributes to the discourse on fourth-stage intellectual capital (IC) research. Conclusions drawn from the analysis of the empirical material are expected to focus further research on fourth-stage IC and to improve practices of IC disclosure.

A mandatory KBS has been used to govern the Austrian Higher Education Institution sector for more than a decade. In a qualitative longitudinal case study, the authors analyze two series of qualitative interviews and documents in order to reveal functional and dysfunctional effects of the KBS in use.

The conclusions focus on the communicative culture in the implementation process, the way change processes are organized and the value of strategy for orientation, sense making and an effective allocation of resources.

The practical implications are twofold: first, to identify aspects of monetary, utilitarian, social and environmental value dimensions, a concerted effort to embed quantitative data in a discourse on qualitative impact on value would be needed. Second, the authors support a “communicative culture first” rather than a “tool-box first” approach.

Original empirical data have been gathered in a longitudinal study of a valuable and unique case. Retrospectively, a better understanding of the top-down implementation of the KBS and its pitfalls is achieved.

The purpose of this paper is twofold: first, to identify motivations that drive communication of IC (CIC); and second, to investigate content and format used in CIC from three perspectives, namely, human capital information, relational capital information and structural capital information.

A global survey was conducted with 200 banks’ senior executives responsible for annual report (AR), followed by content analysis of each bank’s AR.

The study found four motivations of CIC, namely, management responsibility to stakeholders, collective behavior, corporate responsibility and compliance. Content analysis of banks’ AR found structural capital information most prevalent, followed by human capital and relational capital. Five types of formats were analyzed to show the different presentation used in the CIC.

Current data source was limited to banking and focussed on English language publications.

The study provides regulators insights to forces that either compel or hinder CIC, and updates literature on management’s thinking and priorities in CIC.

This study is possibly the first paper that investigates the motivation of CIC for reporting, where IC is an important asset to organizations. The findings on the content and format used in CIC extend existing studies to a wider, global scale.

This study aims to examine the impact of implementation of government-sponsored intellectual capital (IC) management and reporting (ICMR) programmes in Hong Kong and Japan for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) for the purpose of issuing an IC statement (ICS).

The authors present a critical analysis using semi-structured interviews with employees and owners of Hong Kong and Japanese SMEs who participated in their respective government’s ICMR programmes and who published an ICS.

The authors conclude that many enterprises did not achieve the full benefit of participating in the ICMR programme because consultants funded by the government prepared the ICS. Instead, consultants should take on more of a “missionary” role, educating enterprises about IC, rather than doing the work for them.

This research is restricted to enterprises that published one or more ICS. Future research should include enterprises participating in the ICMR programme that failed to publish an ICS.

Enterprises that are able to utilise IC in their daily business routine will think IC is useful and continue using it. Conversely, those enterprises that relied on consultants to prepare the ICS will not understand its benefits.

Policymakers should not solely concentrate on creating new IC reporting frameworks or guidelines for enterprises to follow because this focus limits the understanding of how enterprises can utilise IC concepts with the consequence that they may eventually give up on IC reporting.

The purpose of this paper is to offer a personal critical reflection on the future of intellectual capital (IC) based on my experience as an IC researcher, author, editor, teacher and practitioner.

Offers a first-hand reflection on the future of IC, using evidence collected from IC in the field and the author’s personal reflections.

I argue that the authors need to abandon reporting and instead concentrate on how an organisation discloses what “was previously secret or unknown”, so that all stakeholders understand how an organisation takes into consideration ethical, social and environmental impacts in keeping with an eco-systems approach to IC.

While much of the empirical evidence presented in this paper is freely available to all scholars, the interpretation and findings is subjective. Other researchers, given the same opportunity and evidence, may not necessarily make the same conclusions.

We are now on the cusp of the fourth stage of IC research (Dumay, 2013), whereby IC expands its boundaries into the wider eco-system, to “go beyond IC reporting” (Edvinsson, 2013, p. 163).

Offers a critical review of the impact of IC reporting which is relevant to consider because of the newfound resurging interest in IC, based on the current push for integrated reporting ( < IR > ), which arguably contains IC information targeted at investors.

Recounts Rockefeller philanthropy and the role it has played in shaping the development of medicine in the USA and elsewhere. Questions why social scientific research was not included in Rockefeller philanthropy in its formative stages. Investigates the role one Frederick T. Gates played in Rockefeller philanthropy and, particularly, his opposition to the creation of an institute of economic research. Sketches a biography of Gates, covering his professional career and the development of the philosophical views he held. Explores his approach to wholesale giving and scientific philanthropy as he gained more and more influence over Rockefeller’s business interests. Mentions William Lyon Mackenzie King (who later became Prime Minister of Canada) and his role within the Rockefeller philanthropic set‐up – to investigate labour relations – as a key factor in later obtaining support from the Rockefeller Foundation for social scientific research.

The purpose of this paper is to explore how organization’s resources and community aspects shape intellectual capital (IC) performance in developing countries. In fact, it is still unclear to what level organizational aggregation can influence forms of IC performance in the simultaneous presence of strong traditional legacy and eagerness for development.

The study is based on a project of aggregation of artists in Kenya. It uses a mixed methods approach.

The analysis first documents that multiple capital resources, i.e., human, social, and organizational contribute to improve IC performance. Social and organizational resources have the largest positive effects. This study then supports the importance of community aspects in fostering IC performance. In this light, it appears to facilitate knowledge interaction and interrelationship networks rather than accentuate possible pre-existing groups’ rivalry.

The results are inferred from a single case study, and so the reader is given the caveat that the results cannot be easily generalized. The evidence gathered can represent a useful ground on which to build future studies comparing different legal, social, cultural, and economic contexts.

This study gathers insights on how organization’s resources can lead to IC performance in developing countries and in a setting characterized by a high degree of institutional complexity. It also addresses the call for more research on programs implemented at local level to leverage IC and to valorize traditional knowledge in a sustainable and concrete way.

Evidence on IC in developing countries is still scant, besides their potential for growth. This study attempts to address this gap. Moreover, it pays attention to the context by analyzing the community aspects. Finally, the use of mixed methods further validates previous evidence on the relationship between organization’s resources and IC performance.