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1 – 8 of 8Jan 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…
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.
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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…
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.
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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.
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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…
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.
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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…
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.
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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…
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.
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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.
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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…
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.
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