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Article
Publication date: 25 February 2021

Syed Abidur Rahman, Golam Mostafa Khan, Salem AlAbri and Seyedeh Khadijeh Taghizadeh

This study aims to investigate the role of the components of intellectual capital (IC) on entrepreneurial opportunity recognition among small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in the…

Abstract

Purpose

This study aims to investigate the role of the components of intellectual capital (IC) on entrepreneurial opportunity recognition among small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in the Sultanate of Oman. The interrelationships of these components are also examined.

Design/methodology/approach

The study used quantitative research methods. Data were collected using structured questionnaires from a sample of 347 respondents from SMEs operating in Oman. Structural equation modeling was employed to examine the hypotheses using partial least square technique.

Findings

The analysis results demonstrate that structural capital, relational capital and spiritual capital have significant relationships with entrepreneurial opportunity recognition. Meanwhile, human capital has no relationship with either entrepreneurial opportunity recognition or spiritual capital. Intriguingly, significant interrelationships are observed among IC's components.

Practical implications

This study offers useful managerial implications for the related parties: firms, public institutions and other stakeholders. The findings could be a guideline for SME managers/owners to recognize the right entrepreneurial opportunity.

Originality/value

To the best of our knowledge, this study is the first to reveal the relationships between the tripartite model of IC and entrepreneurial opportunity recognition. This study is also the first to test the interrelationship of spiritual capital on other intellectual components.

Details

Journal of Intellectual Capital, vol. 23 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1469-1930

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 30 April 2020

Nicolás Salvador Beltramino, Domingo García-Perez-de-Lema and Luis Enrique Valdez-Juárez

The objective of this study is to analyze the influence of the structural capital of SMEs in the capacity of innovation and organizational performance, in the context of an…

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Abstract

Purpose

The objective of this study is to analyze the influence of the structural capital of SMEs in the capacity of innovation and organizational performance, in the context of an emerging country.

Design/methodology/approach

The sample consisted of 259 industrial SMEs from the province of Córdoba Argentina. The data was analyzed by Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS–SEM).

Findings

The study provided evidence that acquisition of information and knowledge management, organizational culture and structure, systems and processes have positive and significant effects on the innovation capacity of SMEs. Only the communication and cohesion component did not show positive and significant results on it. It also showed a positive and significant relationship between the capacity for innovation in processes and performance, contributing to the scarce empirical literature in the context of SMEs.

Research limitations/implications

The research exposes some limitations that uncover a path for the development of future lines of research. In the first place, the work focuses on the use of a single source of information, the consultation at the managerial level of the company, without considering other representative variables to measure the capacity for innovation. Second, the study covered only companies in the industrial sector and country. Future studies should focus on other sectors and countries.

Practical implications

The results of the study can have important practical implications for the owners and managers of SMEs. The results offer a vision of the dimensions of structural capital that most influence the innovative capacity of the organization. This is especially useful given that in the context of Argentina there is a low level of knowledge and structural capital is key to being more competitive. The managers of SMEs can thus increase the innovative potential of the company and favor the acquisition of information and knowledge and improve its processes and systems to contribute to the development of innovation capabilities to make SMEs more competitive.

Social implications

The results obtained can be useful for those responsible for making public policy decisions, since in the knowledge of the economy to maintain a developed state and nation, it is necessary to include as one of the main issues on the national agenda the improvement of intellectual capital of its people to promote the competitiveness of companies.

Originality/value

The research contributes to the development of intellectual capital literature focused on the generation of innovation and performance in the perspective of SMEs in emerging countries.

Details

Journal of Intellectual Capital, vol. 21 no. 6
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1469-1930

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 11 October 2021

Nnachi Egwu Onuoha

The purpose of this paper is to explore human capital and corporate financial performance link from the perspective of human capital theory, resources-based view and balanced…

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to explore human capital and corporate financial performance link from the perspective of human capital theory, resources-based view and balanced score card approach, and the mediating role of structural capital in this relationship.

Design/methodology/approach

Overall, a data set was drawn from five-year annual reports of deposit money banks (DMBs) in Nigeria. Additionally, the bootstrap procedure was performed to test the mediating role of structural capital.

Findings

Specifically, the paper results indicate that whereas human capital has significant positive effect on corporate financial performance and structural capital, structural capital has significant positive effect on corporate financial performance. Additionally, the study finds structural capital to mediate the effect of human capital on organizational financial performance.

Research limitations/implications

This paper focused on 12 DMBs in Nigeria and their five year annual reports. Accordingly, future studies in this area should increase the number of banks and years, and include firms operating in insurance, manufacturing, telecommunication and oil and gas industries to permit comparability of results and broader basis for generalizability. Moreover, the study results provide insights that would serve as robust empirical basis for policy makers to insist on enhancement of the value of human and structural capital variables.

Practical implications

The managers of DMBs should commit to development of their employees through improvement in their training and health programs, among others. Also, they should ensure continuous improvement of their structural capital to enable the investments in their employee to translate to enhanced corporate financial performance.

Originality/value

To the best of the author’s knowledge, this is the first study to explore the mediation effect of structural capital on the human capital-corporate financial performance link using evidence from DMBs in Nigeria and, thus, extends and deepens extant literature on human capital-organizational performance nexus.

Details

Measuring Business Excellence, vol. 26 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1368-3047

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 September 2004

E. Carson, R. Ranzijn, A. Winefield and H. Marsden

This paper aims to extend the understanding of human and structural capital as key components of intellectual capital by refining their definitions and outlining their…

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Abstract

This paper aims to extend the understanding of human and structural capital as key components of intellectual capital by refining their definitions and outlining their relationships. It argues that psychology and sociology can further develop the understanding of intellectual capital despite having not previously been sufficiently recognised as relevant to the debate. The paper draws on these disciplinary areas to develop a model that specifies subsets of human and structural capital, of intellectual capital and the relationship between them, as a basis for a more comprehensive definition and effective measurement of it across a range of industries and firms. Finally, it argues that it is important for employers to determine how to capture human capital and convert it into structural capital so that it is not lost in times of rapid restructuring and high staff turnover.

Details

Journal of Intellectual Capital, vol. 5 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1469-1930

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 19 January 2021

Javier Amores-Salvadó, Jorge Cruz-González, Miriam Delgado-Verde and Jaime González-Masip

This paper investigates the impact of green technological distance (GTD) – environmental technological knowledge distance between the firm and the industry – on the adoption of…

Abstract

Purpose

This paper investigates the impact of green technological distance (GTD) – environmental technological knowledge distance between the firm and the industry – on the adoption of proactive and reactive environmental strategies and whether this relationship is moderated by different manifestations of green structural capital, i.e. environmental incentives, senior environmental responsibilities and external environmental communication.

Design/methodology/approach

The empirical analysis is conducted on a sample of 202 manufacturing companies from Spain. Hierarchical regression analysis was used to examine the moderating effect of green structural capital.

Findings

Results show that the role of green structural capital as guiding factor of the environmental response of the firm and organizational support to cope with the GTD between the firm and the industry is diverse and depends on the manifestation of green structural capital under analysis. The establishment of environmental incentives for managers and the presence of environmental information in the firm's external communications – as two expressions of green structural capital – show a different behavior when facing the environmental technological challenge, supporting environmental reactive and proactive strategies respectively. In addition, GTD increases the adoption of reactive environmental strategies, while it has no direct effect on the implementation of proactive environmental practices.

Originality/value

Using the novel construct of GTD and the analysis of a so far unstudied interaction, the study contributes to the literature on intellectual capital and environmental strategy considering the technical change associated to the environmental challenge. In so doing, it improves the understanding of the role of green structural capital as a guiding factor of the environmental response of the firm and organizational support to cope with the GTD between the firm and the industry.

Details

Journal of Intellectual Capital, vol. 22 no. 5
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1469-1930

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 4 January 2022

Chunhsien Wang, Tachia Chin and Chung-Te Ting

Drawing on social capital theory, we extend the concept of supply chain capital to examine whether structural and relational capital can strengthen the complementary capabilities…

Abstract

Purpose

Drawing on social capital theory, we extend the concept of supply chain capital to examine whether structural and relational capital can strengthen the complementary capabilities of suppliers and enhance their performance.

Design/methodology/approach

The empirical study was conducted on 161 precision mold equipment suppliers. To evaluate the mediated moderation model of supply chain capital, we applied multiple linear regression to test our hypotheses.

Findings

We found that both structural and relational capital positively affect the complementary capabilities of suppliers and that these capabilities mediate the relationship between supply chain capital and supplier performance. Furthermore, structural capital positively and significantly moderates the mediating effect on the relationship between complementary capabilities and supplier performance.

Research limitations/implications

This study provides suggestions for suppliers that are equipped with sufficient structural and relational capital to effectively enhance their complementary capabilities. By considering the interaction between structural capital and complementary capabilities, suppliers can effectively improve their performance.

Originality/value

This novel research develops a theoretical model to examine the antecedents and consequences of supplier complementary capabilities. We contribute to a new line of research on supply chain capital, which aims to explore how it affects the complementary capabilities of suppliers by examining a practical supply chain activity setting.

Details

Journal of Intellectual Capital, vol. 24 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1469-1930

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 16 January 2009

Peter Cleary

In the context of intellectual capital (IC) research, it has been proposed that management accounting is most appropriately situated as an element of a firm's structural capital…

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Abstract

Purpose

In the context of intellectual capital (IC) research, it has been proposed that management accounting is most appropriately situated as an element of a firm's structural capital. This paper sets out to explore this contention within the confines of the indigenous Irish information and communications technology (ICT) sector.

Design/methodology/approach

A survey instrument was used to collect the necessary data and responses from 88 firms were generated. A form of structural equation modelling (SEM) called partial least squares (PLS) was used to test the data.

Findings

The findings suggest that management accounting systems within the indigenous Irish ICT sector have a positive influence on the generation of management accounting information. No statistical support was found, however, for the suggestion that management accounting systems positively influence firms' structural capital, whereas the results did indicate a positive relationship between management accounting information and structural capital. The findings strongly support previous research on the relationships between the human, structural and relational dimensions of IC and business performance.

Research limitations/implications

The research was conducted solely within the confines of the Irish ICT sector. Further research is needed to explore the relevant relationships.

Practical implications

It is argued strongly that firms adapt/develop management accounting systems to furnish themselves with the appropriate information required for the management and measurement of their increasingly valuable stock of IC.

Originality/value

The paper explicitly explores the relationship between management accounting and structural capital.

Details

Journal of Intellectual Capital, vol. 10 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1469-1930

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 7 March 2018

Beatriz Ortiz, Mario J. Donate and Fátima Guadamillas

This paper concentrates on the antecedents of external knowledge acquisition of companies based on their inter-organizational relationships. Specifically, it considers social…

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Abstract

Purpose

This paper concentrates on the antecedents of external knowledge acquisition of companies based on their inter-organizational relationships. Specifically, it considers social capital (i.e., the result of a firm’s inter-organizational relationships) as an essential precursor of knowledge identification capabilities and deliberated knowledge acquisition strategies. This study aims to propose that cognitive and relational dimensions of a firm’s inter-organizational social capital are mediating factors of the relationship between structural social capital and knowledge identification capabilities and the relationship between structural social capital and the deliberated acquisition of external knowledge, respectively. The relationship between knowledge identification capability and external knowledge acquisition is also analyzed.

Design/methodology/approach

This is a cross-sectional quantitative study with a sample of 87 firms from Spanish biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries. From an extensive literature review, we developed three hypotheses that were tested using the partial least squares technique and structural equations model.

Findings

The results only support a mediating effect of cognitive social capital in the relationship between structural social capital and knowledge identification capability and a partial mediation effect of relational social capital in the relationship between structural social capital and knowledge acquisition. In addition, the findings show that firms with more advanced abilities to identify and assess the value of external knowledge will be likely to develop optimal deliberated strategies to acquire effectively such knowledge from its network partners.

Research limitations/implications

The limitations of this study are small sample size and the cross-sectional nature of the study. The study also focuses on only two specific and innovative industries.

Practical implications

Managers should understand that “good” management of inter-organizational social capital allows the firm to develop dynamic capabilities for the identification and acquisition of valuable knowledge. The results of the study show that managers should concentrate on building knowledge identification capabilities and should also be aware of the possibilities that social capital can provide to a firm to formulate and implement effective strategies for external knowledge acquisition.

Originality/value

To date, there are relatively few studies focussing on knowledge identification capability and its relationships with the dimensions of a company’s social capital as enablers of external knowledge acquisition. For managers, the identification of valuable knowledge by using inter-organizational relationships and networks is an essential issue, especially in innovative industries characterized by continuous change. Theoretically, this research highlights that social capital contributes to the development of dynamic capabilities, allowing the firm to sense and seize business opportunities based on external knowledge acquisition to achieve competitive advantages.

Article
Publication date: 15 March 2013

Byungjin Yim and Byunghak Leem

The aim of this paper is to demonstrate that supply chain social capital has an effect on supply chain integration, which in turn has a significant on firm performance, and then…

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Abstract

Purpose

The aim of this paper is to demonstrate that supply chain social capital has an effect on supply chain integration, which in turn has a significant on firm performance, and then supply chain integration mediates the relationship between supply chain social capital and firm performance.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors validated their model and tested the hypotheses using the partial least squares (PLS) structural equation model (SEM).

Findings

Empirical results reveal that the three dimensions of supply chain social capital – structural, relational, and cognitive – had significant effects, directly or indirectly, on supply chain integration and performance, and supply chain integration played a mediating role in the relationships between structural capital and firm performance, between relational capital and firm performance, and between cognitive capital and firm performance.

Research limitations/implications

Since the survey data were collected at various industries in Korea, it is difficult to gain social network benefits for a specific industry through worldwide. Therefore, to obtain more meaningful results, the authors would collect the data for special product family in the special industry. But the study suggests that supply chain integration among supply chain partners can be improved by building up social capital, firm performance can be enhanced by improving supply chain integration, and consequently, supply chain integration should serve to enhance firm's profitability.

Originality/value

The main contribution of this paper investigates whether supply chain integration mediates the relationship between supply chain social capital and firm performance in the supply chain using the PLS and Baron and Kenny's approach.

Article
Publication date: 9 June 2020

John Salinas-Ávila, René Abreu-Ledón and Johnny Tamayo-Arias

The purpose of this paper is to provide empirical evidence on the relationships between the dimensions of intellectual capital (IC) and the generation of knowledge in public…

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to provide empirical evidence on the relationships between the dimensions of intellectual capital (IC) and the generation of knowledge in public universities.

Design/methodology/approach

An online survey was developed and administered in Colombia. A total of 209 researchers participated in the study. Data were collected through IC measurements concerning the research mission of the universities. Scientific publications from the respondents and the citations received were taken as proxies for the generation of knowledge. To test the hypotheses, structural equation modeling was used.

Findings

Hypotheses proposing a positive association between the dimensions of IC, namely, human capital, structural capital, and relational capital, and the generation of knowledge were tested. The findings highlight that human capital is indirectly and positively related to the generation of knowledge through relational capital, as well as through the path of structural capital-relational capital.

Practical implications

The study suggests that directors of research at universities could improve the results of this activity by analyzing and understanding the dimensions of IC that contribute to the development of scientific capacities and the generation of knowledge.

Originality/value

This is one of the first studies that has examined the interrelationships between the dimensions of IC at universities and the generation of knowledge.

Details

Journal of Intellectual Capital, vol. 21 no. 6
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1469-1930

Keywords

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