THE EFFECT OF INTELLECTUAL CAPITAL ON OPERATIONAL PERFORMANCE AMONG DEPOSIT MONEY BANKS: MEDIATED BY INNOVATION

Abstract

The banking sector, like many other service industries, is frequently characterized by a high level of rivalry, driving enterprises to come up with innovative ideas and strategies to improve their chances for success. Over the years, Nigerian Deposit Money Banks' operational efficiency has been bad in terms of per customer service timing, time spent at the bank, and an unreliable network, among other things. This tendency might be linked to a lack of investment in the bank's intangible assets, often known as intellectual capital. This study examined the mediating effect of innovation in the relationship between intellectual capital (IC) and operational performance (OP) of deposit money banks (DMBs) in the Nigerian Banking sector. The study was built on the idea of Resource Base View Theory (RBV) and Human Capital Theory. Three dimensions of intellectual capital namely: Human Capital (HC), Structural Capital (SC) and Relational Capital (RC) were used. Cross-sectional survey design was adopted in this study and structured questionnaire was used to collect data from the operational employees of all the 13 DMBs operating in Jalingo, Taraba state, Nigeria. 399 questionnaires were distributed out of which 357 usable questionnaires were retrieved. The data was analyzed using PLS-SEM. Results of the analysis showed that all the components of IC (HC, SC and RC) have significant positive effect on operational performance of DMBs in Jalingo with human capital (HC) having the highest influence. In addition, results of the analysis also show that innovation mediates the relationship between intellectual capital and operational performance of DMBs. The study concludes that innovation (INV) plays a mediating role in the relationship between intellectual capital and operational performance of DMBs.