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Article
Publication date: 1 August 2004

Jan Mouritsen, Stefan Thorbjørnsen, Per N. Bukh and Mette R. Johansen

The paper reports on public sector organisations'/institutions' work to develop knowledge management and intellectual capital statements. Building on experiences collected during…

2489

Abstract

The paper reports on public sector organisations'/institutions' work to develop knowledge management and intellectual capital statements. Building on experiences collected during 2001‐2002 where 26 public sector institutions in Denmark sought to develop intellectual capital statements, this paper discusses their experiences and in particular, it addresses the role of intellectual capital in relation to the development of the new public management philosophy. It is suggested that these public sector organisations use intellectual capital activity to promote themselves as “businesses” with their own strategies and modes of operations. Intellectual capital helps these firms differentiate themselves and develop their own strategic approach to their mode of functioning by showing how they function as enterprises.

Details

The Learning Organization, vol. 11 no. 4/5
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0969-6474

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 December 2003

Stefan Thorbjørnsen and Jan Mouritsen

On the basis of three examples of intellectual capital statements that make the individual its central figure, this article discusses the role of individuals in knowledge…

2014

Abstract

On the basis of three examples of intellectual capital statements that make the individual its central figure, this article discusses the role of individuals in knowledge creation. After all, it is often claimed that the individual is the “container” of knowledge and therefore, what it means to account for the individual is an issue. However, analysing these individual competence statements (intellectual capital statements), it is clear that the individual is never alone. It is always related to organisational purposes and the individual competency statement makes the individual an organisational entity because individual competency is related either to organisational bonus systems, to corporate revenues or to the organisational configuration of its knowledge resources. Through the individual competency statement, the individual is made an organisational entity.

Details

Journal of Intellectual Capital, vol. 4 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1469-1930

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Article
Publication date: 12 January 2022

Peter Skaerbaek

The purpose of this paper is to explore the implications that Power’s book had to the author’s research in public sector auditing.

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to explore the implications that Power’s book had to the author’s research in public sector auditing.

Design/methodology/approach

In this paper, the author reflects and debates the inspiration that Michael Power’s book The Audit Society had on the author’s own research.

Findings

The author finds that this book had a significant influence on how he succeeded theorizing his studies on auditing, and how he could contribute to the audit literature. It is stunning how the book succeeded in synthesizing audit research, encouraging scholars to understand auditing as a social practice, i.e. how auditing can be theorized using various social science theories and how the book also appealed to broader social science.

Research limitations/implications

This paper is a reflection that covers around a 20-year period with potential mis-representations of how exactly sequences of actions and thoughts were.

Practical implications

This paper helps to clarify how it is that audit operates and influences everyday life of persons involved with auditing.

Social implications

This paper casts doubts as to what actions are carried out in the name of audit and that audit is not just a value free activity but involved with political agendas.

Originality/value

The originality of this paper is that it fleshes out how a seminal book can have significant implications on how research is carried out.

Details

Qualitative Research in Accounting & Management, vol. 19 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1176-6093

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Article
Publication date: 11 January 2016

Stefan Schaper

Dumay and Garanina (2013) asserted that, even though intellectual capital (IC) researchers would like to continue developing new models, existing models seem to not be used in…

1109

Abstract

Purpose

Dumay and Garanina (2013) asserted that, even though intellectual capital (IC) researchers would like to continue developing new models, existing models seem to not be used in practice. Nielsen et al. (in press) discovered that almost all companies that were originally involved in the Danish project of guidelines for intellectual capital statements (ICS) have abandoned their work with ICS a few years after the project ended. The purpose of this paper is to inquire the underlying reasons and conditions that drove these organisations to stop using the acquired framework.

Design/methodology/approach

This study is based on both survey and in-depth interview data from key employees of 58 organisations. Qualitative content analysis employing thematic coding is used to crystallise aspects among the provided reasons, to categorise them, and to investigate possible relations. Results are interpreted through a conceptual framework containing elements diffusion theory, management fashion and fads theory and lifecycles as well as implementation failure of knowledge management (KM) techniques.

Findings

A multitude of reasons and conditions are discovered as having affected companies’ decisions to interrupt their ICS practices. Underlying aspects principally refer to deliberately taken decisions but also to a substantial number of exogenous factors and conditions. Their common denominator is identified in the low perceived value of ICS, both internally from a KM perspective and externally in relation to the disclosure practice. This leads to the conclusion that ICS can be considered a hierarchically diffused management fashion whose implementation within these companies failed, and its lifecycle subsequently ended with rejection.

Research limitations/implications

This study is limited due to the particular composition of the selected research sample, which, together with the qualitative nature of the research, restricts the possibility of any generalisations of the results to the broader field of IC and extra-financial reporting.

Originality/value

It represents a large-scale attempt to directly investigate organisations’ and managers’ reluctances towards ICS measuring and reporting, its perceived value, and the failure of its persistent implementation.

Article
Publication date: 16 January 2017

Christian Nielsen, Robin Roslender and Stefan Schaper

The purpose of this paper is to provide an overview of the Danish Guideline Project (DGP) and its subsequent fate within participating companies since its conclusion in late 2002…

1211

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to provide an overview of the Danish Guideline Project (DGP) and its subsequent fate within participating companies since its conclusion in late 2002. Particular focus is placed on the traction that the intellectual capital statement (ICS) approach to reporting, as the principal outcome of the project, was able to acquire in practice.

Design/methodology/approach

Following the reconstruction of the original sample of 102 companies that originally participated in the project, a survey using semi-structured interviews was pursued among 64 individuals who were identified as having some involvement with the guideline project and/or producing ICSs in these companies. In addition to the interviews, a range of secondary information has been used to supplement the primary data and research protocol.

Findings

The project was found to have enjoyed only modest success and thereby failed to achieve any substantial traction among the participating companies and related public stakeholders. On balance, however, respondents believed that the exercise had been a positive experience, with benefits for the internal management of the companies, as well as for human capital (employees). The obstacles that radical initiatives such as the ICS continue to face should not be underestimated.

Research limitations/implications

A single study of a specific initiative necessarily entails many limitations. It is conceivable that the views of some of the participants in the guideline project who are absent from the present sample may provide details of a different experience, although it is unlikely that these would seriously challenge the findings reported here.

Originality/value

This study is the first to explore the fate of the critically acclaimed ICS approach among companies participating in the DGP.

Details

Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, vol. 30 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0951-3574

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 9 January 2017

Stefan Schaper, Christian Nielsen and Robin Roslender

Informed by the findings of a follow-up research study of companies originally involved in the Danish Guideline Project (DGP) for intellectual capital statements (ICS), the…

1532

Abstract

Purpose

Informed by the findings of a follow-up research study of companies originally involved in the Danish Guideline Project (DGP) for intellectual capital statements (ICS), the purpose of this paper is to provide valuable insights for a potential shift from intellectual capital (IC) reporting, largely informed by an accounting perspective, towards IC-related disclosures.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper draws on data obtained from 21 semi-structured interviews with respondents in 16 companies. The respondents were contacted following a genealogical exercise carried out on the 102 companies involved in the DGP between 1999 and 2003.

Findings

The interviews suggested a rather critical perspective towards IC reporting using the ICS framework. Despite the attempt of the DGP to establish a reporting standard, a range of experiments resulted in changes to the framework’s original structure. Overall, a trend towards more integrated forms of reporting was discernible, in some part being motivated by the need to reduce the levels of reporting overload. Examples of integration designed to legitimise IC or corporate social responsibility reports, involving issuing them in tandem with a recognised reporting vehicle such as the annual report, were also encountered.

Research limitations/implications

The implications of this study are that timely, value-relevant IC disclosures and compliant reporting, primarily for accountability purposes, have the potential to coexist. In addition to the usual limitations of a semi-structured interview research design, respondents’ difficulties in clearly recalling events during the project after some 10-12 years is a further potential limitation. Additionally, the use of internet-based communication channels for disclosure purposes was in its infancy at the time of the DGP.

Originality/value

The paper provides important insights into the mechanisms of IC disclosure and IC reporting as seen from a practitioner perspective. Implications relevant to the continued development of integrated reporting are also identified.

Details

Journal of Intellectual Capital, vol. 18 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1469-1930

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 6 August 2019

Michela Matarazzo, Riccardo Resciniti and Biagio Simonetti

Building on the scant literature on cross-border acquisitions (CBAs) in the consumer perspective, the purpose of this paper is to investigate the impact of the acquirer’s…

Abstract

Purpose

Building on the scant literature on cross-border acquisitions (CBAs) in the consumer perspective, the purpose of this paper is to investigate the impact of the acquirer’s cause-related marketing (CRM) on consumers’ repurchase intentions of the products of the post-acquisition target. In addition, the study aims at analyzing the moderating role of acquirer’s CRM on the relationship between corporate ability (CA) and country image (CI) on consumers’ repurchase intentions of the products of the post-acquisition target.

Design/methodology/approach

Drawing on a sample of Italian consumers (n=351), the authors examined the roles played by the acquirer’s CRM on consumer behaviour by considering an Italian target firm with a high reputation and comparing eight foreign acquiring firms with different combinations of CRM (poor/good), CA (poor/good) and CI (high/low).

Findings

The authors found that CRM, CA as well as CI have a significant impact on Italian consumers’ intention to repurchase the products of the post-acquisition target. Furthermore, it is shown that good CRM reduces the negative influence of a poor CA and a low CI on post-acquisition repurchase intentions and strengthen the positive influence, thus confirming the moderating role of CRM.

Originality/value

The research investigates, in the context of CBAs, the impact of the acquirer’s CRM on the host country consumers’ repurchase intentions after the CBA, which has not previously been examined. It can help managers to understand the conditions under which CBAs will be favourably evaluated.

Details

International Marketing Review, vol. 37 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0265-1335

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 9 May 2016

Elena-Mădălina Vătămănescu, Andreia Gabriela Andrei, Diana-Luiza Dumitriu and Cristina Leovaridis

The paper aims to investigate the standpoints and practices of university members from European developing countries regarding the harnessing of the intellectual capital (IC…

1037

Abstract

Purpose

The paper aims to investigate the standpoints and practices of university members from European developing countries regarding the harnessing of the intellectual capital (IC) within online academic social networks.

Design/methodology/approach

A questionnaire-based survey with 210 university members was conducted, with the indicators adopting prior measurement scales which were further adapted to a network framework.

Findings

The organizational policies and practices relate positively and highly significantly with the valuation of the network-based IC components. Moreover, 63 per cent of the professional and organizational competitiveness of higher education institutions is determined by the exploitation of the IC embedded in online academic networks.

Research limitations/implications

All survey respondents were from the European developing countries, which may limit the general applicability of the findings. Also, the emphasis is laid solely on online academic networks.

Practical implications

This paper brings to the fore both the potential and the state-of-the-art in leveraging the IC of online specialized networks which are indicative of the academic field. When acknowledged as such, the network-based IC is liable to generate substantial competitive advantages at the professional and organizational levels at the same time.

Originality/value

This research adds to the extant literature in two main ways. First, it advances a new construct – network-based IC – in the context of the online academic social networks. Second, it proposes a research model for addressing the network-based IC from a competitive advantage perspective.

Details

Journal of Knowledge Management, vol. 20 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1367-3270

Keywords

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