Abstract
This study focuses on the influence intellectual capital has on employees' perceptions as related to both company investments and productivity levels. The data was obtained from 440 employees at 13 Portuguese companies. Both ANOVA and Regression Analysis were conducted in order to understand the impact three Intellectual Capital Scale components have on perceptions of investment and organizational productivity. Results show that companies with higher scores of Structural Capital have a lower perception of investment in human resources and research, as well as a higher perception of investment in marketing and sales. Moreover, employees of companies with higher Structural Capital scores also have higher perceptions of productivity. On the other hand, organizations with higher investment in Customer Capital tend to be associated with a lower perception of organizational productivity.
Highlights
As a result of the shift from the Industrial Age to the Information Age, knowledge has become a key factor in achieving and sustaining competitive advantages at an organizational level (Nicolacida-Costa, 2002)
In order to compare the different perceptions of necessary investment with the measures of Intellectual Capital (IC), several ANOVA’s were conducted
Post-hoc comparison tests (Scheffe) illustrate the discrepancies between the perception of investment needed and the three dimensions of IC. These results reveal that a high score on Structural Capital is significantly associated with a higher perception of lack of investment in human resources and research when compared with marketing and sales (Mean Difference = .402, p < .001)
Summary
As a result of the shift from the Industrial Age to the Information Age, knowledge has become a key factor in achieving and sustaining competitive advantages at an organizational level (Nicolacida-Costa, 2002). Previous research had already stressed the importance of intangible resources in organizations, such as human capital (e.g., Becker, 1964; Flamholtz & Lacey, 1981; Snell & Dean, 1992), organizational learning (e.g., Argyris & Schon, 1978; Duncan & Weiss, 1979), absorptive capacity (e.g., Cohen & Levinthal, 1990) and interpretation systems (e.g., Daft & Weick, 1984). Literature emphasizes the roles of knowledge and people in organizational productivity. Based on this new paradigm, managers are changing financial reporting mechanisms to new procedures based on knowledge measurement (Fruin, 1997; Hall, 1992; Hamel & Prahalad, 1994; Snell, Lepak, & Youndt, 1999)
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