Intellectual capital and performance of listed firms during the global financial crisis: the effects of legal origin

Abstract

PurposeThis study aims to reveal to what extent successful European listed firms depend on their intellectual capital investment in achieving business success during the global financial crisis.Design/methodology/approachThis study used value added intellectual coefficient (VAIC) methodology to measure the effect of intellectual capital on financial performance of business, which consist of 683 the sample listed firms. To examine the nexus between intellectual capital, legal origin and firm performance, estimated panel test and ordinary least squares regression model is used to data obtained from a sample of European countries.FindingsThe finding of this study suggests that there exists a positive relationship between intellectual capital and firm performance with return on assets (ROA) before the financial crisis, while firm performance with return on equity did not contribute to intellectual capital before and after the crisis period. Additionally, common law countries have a positive and statistically significant impact on firm performance with ROA for the before-crisis period, while code law countries have positively significant effect with VAIC on ROA.Practical implicationsThe VAIC method has played a critical role in the management decision-making process to integrate the intellectual capital in the financial crisis period.Originality/valueThis study examines intellectual capital components such as human capital, structural capital and process capital efficiencies and firm performance in the legal origin context. The empirical evidence shows that there are significant impacts of legal origin on the nexus between intellectual capital and performance of listed firms during the global financial crisis.