Abstract
Intellectual capital (IC) is reckoned as a significant driving force of competitive advantage and financial sustainability of any organization. The study’s objective is to explore the nonlinear effect of IC and its components on financial performance (FP) of China’s listed shipping companies over a six-year period (2014–2019). The modified Value Added Intellectual Coefficient (MVAIC) model is used to systematically assess IC. The empirical results show an inverted U-shaped relationship between the aggregate IC and FP (measured through return on assets). Regarding IC components, human, relational, and innovation capitals have an inverted U-shaped relationship with FP, while the quadratic relationship between structural capital and FP is not significant. In addition, physical capital has a U-shaped relationship with FP. This study will offer some new insights for corporate managers to improve firms’ FP by effectively utilizing their IC resources.
Highlights
Intellectual capital (IC) as a new strategic resource is important for any organization [1,2,3,4]. e resource-based view (RBV) suggests that unique and valuable resources can help companies win more profits and enhance core competitiveness
It is worth noticing that the mean scores of Relational capital efficiency (RCE) and Innovation capital efficiency (INCE) (0.0157 and 0.0028) are low, which implies that these companies do not attach great attention to the importance of relational and innovation capitals in value creation
Model (8) reports the significant positive coefficient of modified Value Added Intellectual Coefficient (MVAIC) (β 0.041, t 11.85) and the significant negative coefficient of MVAIC2 (β −0.003, t −11.04). is confirms the inverted U-shaped relationship between IC and return on assets (ROA), consistent with the finding of Haris et al [52] based on the data from Pakistan banks, Yao et al [54] using data from financial institutions in Pakistan, and Asif et al [55] focusing on the Malaysian energy sector. erefore, H2 is fully accepted. e optimal value of MVAIC is calculated to be 6.8333 (0.041–0.006MVAICi,t 0), which indicates that listed shipping companies still need to increase their investment in IC resources
Summary
Intellectual capital (IC) as a new strategic resource is important for any organization [1,2,3,4]. e resource-based view (RBV) suggests that unique and valuable resources can help companies win more profits and enhance core competitiveness. Shipping industry has progressed rapidly because of economic globalization in the past decades [13]. Is industry is highly capital intensive with huge investment in ship building and purchasing, which does not attract investors because of low returns on investment and high risk [14, 15]. In today’s turbulent and dynamic environment, the competition in shipping industry is fierce [18, 19]. Due to many similar services provided, shipping businesses no longer gain competitive advantages [20]. With the increasing demand for shipping, these companies urgently need to expand their market share
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