Purpose Islamic banks in the Middle East and North Africa nations are encountering challenges similar to those in microfinance, with certain countries, such as Lebanon, seeing stagnation in the growth of Islamic banking and finance. The objective of this study is to examine the effect of intellectual capital on credit risk and financial stability within the context of Islamic banks in the Middle East and North Africa region. Design/methodology/approach This study uses the generalized method of moments and the two-stage least squares method to conduct this research. It uses bank data from 972 observations from 2011–2022 in the Middle East and North African countries. Findings The findings show that human capital efficiency, relational capital efficiency, structural capital efficiency and modified value-added intellectual capital negatively correlate with credit risk. In contrast, all of these variables demonstrate a positive impact on financial stability. It suggests that enhancing intellectual capital is expected to contribute to mitigating credit risk, hence promoting excellent financial strength. Social implications By drawing attention to Islamic banks that require intellectual capital and financial stability, this study offers policymakers important information regarding the economic and social well-being of countries in the Middle East and North Africa region. Originality/value This study furnishes banks with information regarding the role of intellectual capital in enhancing financial stability through the mitigation of credit risk.

Knowledge management is increasingly regarded as a strategic element in the public sector due to its potential in managing intangible assets such as intellectual capital. This study aims to examine the role of knowledge management as both a mediating and moderating variable in the relationship between public intellectual capital and government procurement performance, with a case study at the Ministry of Finance. Public intellectual capital is divided into five components: human capital, organizational capital, social capital, technological capital, and relational capital. The analysis employs structural equation modeling – partial least squares (SEM-PLS) with a total of 298 respondents. In the first model, where knowledge management is positioned as a moderating variable, the results indicate that human, social, and relational capital have a significant direct impact on procurement performance. However, knowledge management does not demonstrate a significant moderating effect on these relationships. In contrast, the second model highlights the mediating role of knowledge management, which significantly bridges the influence of several intellectual capital components, specifically organizational, social, technological, and relational capital on procurement performance outcomes. This study underscores the theoretical relevance of positioning knowledge management as a mediating mechanism in public intellectual capital research. These findings further emphasize the importance of systematically and strategically integrating knowledge management into intellectual capital, rather than merely as a supporting factor.

This paper examines the impact of the disclosure of the elements of intellectual capital on financial reporting quality with specific focus on the moderating impact of the quality accruals in an emerging capital market. The study is based on agency theory and signaling theory and states that voluntary disclosure of intellectual capital (human, structural and relational) increases transparency, curbs managerial opportunism, and improves the quality of accounting-based information. The study is based on a balanced panel dataset of 25 listed Iraqi industrial firms (observed during a five-year time frame, 125 firm-year observations) using content analysis to form intellectual capital index of disclosure, and the existing established accrual-based models to measure the quality of accruals and financial reporting. The panel regression analysis and mediation testing according to the Baron and Kenny approach is performed and bootstrapped indirect effect estimation is used as an empirical analysis. The findings indicate that the disclosure of the intellectual capital elements has a positive and significant relationship with the quality of financial reporting. Moreover, the intellectual capital disclosure is positively correlated with the quality of accruals and the correlation is significantly strong, implying that the greater the disclosure is, the greater the confidence in the accruals estimates. The quality of accruals is also determined to impact positively on financial reporting quality to a very high degree. Notably, the mediation analysis shows that the quality of accruals mediate the association between intellectual capital disclosure and financial reporting quality, which prove that better accrual estimation is one of the primary channels through which intellectual capital transparency can improve reporting performance. The results add value to the literature in a number of ways. To begin with, they build on the intellectual capital disclosure research by determining accruals quality to be a sub-mechanism that mediates between disclosure practices and quality of financial reporting. Second, they offer new evidence in Iraq as an under-researched new market, in which voluntary disclosure plays a significant role in governance because of institutional limitations. Third, the findings provide relevant implications to regulators, standard setters and firms due to the significance of reporting intellectual capitals to enhance the quality of financial reporting and its use. In general, the research comes up with a conclusion that the components disclosure of intellectual capital is economically significant in the determination of financial reporting quality and accruals quality is an important transmission attribute in this association. Improving the practices of intellectual capital disclosure can thus contribute to better quality of financial reporting, more stakeholder confidence, and more efficient capital allocation in the emerging economies.

This study aims to theoretically and empirically investigate the relationship between intellectual capital (IC) and the financial performance of firms in the U.S. information technology (IT) sector, with a particular focus on Return on Assets (ROA) as a key performance indicator. Data were collected from 345 publicly listed IT companies over the period 2011–2022, yielding 1,792 firm-year observations. The research employed descriptive statistics, correlation matrices, box plot analyses, and multiple regression models to examine the effects of IC and its components, human capital efficiency, structural capital efficiency, and capital employed efficiency on financial outcomes. The analysis revealed that, contrary to conventional expectations and prior literature, IC exhibited a negative and statistically significant association with financial performance, highlighting potential inefficiencies in the utilization of intangible assets within the IT industry. These findings underscore the complexity of translating investments in IC into measurable financial gains, suggesting that firms may be overinvesting or misallocating resources in areas that do not yield immediate profitability. The novelty of this research lies in uncovering an unexpected inverse IC-performance link in a knowledge-intensive sector, thereby offering executives and policymakers new insights into how IC strategies should be re-evaluated and aligned with long-term value creation.

This study investigates the relationship between intellectual capital (IC), staff development, and profitability in the Nigerian banking sector. By employing a quantitative research design, the study analyzes how staff training and education moderate the effect of IC on profitability. Using data from 12 listed banks spanning 2013–2023, the research identifies that value-added IC significantly contributes to profitability, with capital employed efficiency emerging as the most consistent driver. However, SCE presents challenges, reflecting inefficiencies in operational frameworks and resource utilization. The findings underscore the critical role of staff training as a moderating variable, amplifying the impact of IC on profitability by enabling employees to harness and optimize intellectual resources effectively. Policy implications of the findings are significant, suggesting regulators, such as the Central Bank of Nigeria, to mandate the disclosure of IC metrics in annual financial reports to promote transparency and enhance the stakeholders’ understanding of its impact on performance. In addition, banks should integrate comprehensive training programs into their strategic plans, fostering continuous professional development to maximize intellectual resource efficiency. Addressing structural inefficiencies through investment in advanced technologies and streamlined processes can further enhance profitability. Finally, the study advocates for policymakers to create enabling environments that support IC development, recognizing its potential to drive sustainable growth in the banking sector. These findings align with the resource-based view, contributing to the literature on IC’s contextual role in emerging economies.

Public institutions in rural areas face the challenge of translating their intellectual capital (IC) into sustainable competitive advantages, in a context of fragmented evidence and poorly institutionalized processes. This study aimed to analyze the relationship between IC management and competitive advantage in the Comprehensive Rural Development subprocess of the Riobamba GAD and, simultaneously, to validate a metric scheme. A descriptive, non-experimental, cross-sectional study was designed with a quantitative approach, using purposive sampling (n=40; N=120), a survey, and reliability analysis, sample adequacy, exploratory factor analysis, and Spearman's correlation, processed in IBM SPSS v25 and Excel. The results indicate α=0.976; KMO=0.713; Bartlett p<0.001; five dimensions explain 82.597% of the variance (Human 26.964%; Structural 19.854%; Relational 16.357%; Differentiation 13.383%; Leadership 6.033%) and the CI competitive advantage correlation reaches 0.713. The discussion suggests that expert knowledge, processes, and networks act as complementary levers; certain item-dimension overlaps require fine-tuning of the instrument, and neutral responses reveal communication and standardization gaps. It is concluded that strengthening the three dimensions of IC training and succession, process standardization, and user feedback in a coordinated manner drives competitive advantage; replication and longitudinal follow-up are recommended to strengthen external validity.

This study examined the effect of intellectual capital on growth of listed commercial banks in Nigeria. The study employed ex-post facto design and the study population was drawn from all listed commercial banks, out of which a sample of seven (7) were selected using banks with international licenses as basis for sampling. Secondary data was the main instrument of data collection, obtained from the published annual reports and accounts of listed commercial banks from 2014-2023. Data on the dependent variable (revenue and asset growth), control variable (financial leverage – debt to equity ratio) and independent variable (intellectual capital – human capital efficiency and structural capital efficiency) were collected. Data obtained were analyzed via descriptive, regression diagnostic and inferential statistics. The fixed and random effects panel regression results revealed that intellectual capital has no significant influence on commercial banks’ growth in Nigeria. On the basis of the findings, the study recommends among others that management should further engage less structural capital; this should however be cautiously implemented such that the level of structural capital is kept low as much as possible in order not to deter the growth of commercial banks. This study contributes to knowledge as it serves as a response call for further research in understanding intellectual capital and the growth of listed commercial banks in Nigeria.

This study examines the effects of accounting information value relevance, digitalization disclosure, and intellectual capital on stock prices, with Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) as a moderating variable. Using panel data from 17 Indonesian banking firms over 2021–2024 (68 firm-year observations), a fixed-effects regression model is employed to control for unobserved firm heterogeneity. The results indicate that earnings per share (EPS), price-to-book value (PBV), digitalization disclosure, and intellectual capital significantly influence stock prices (p < 0.05). Moderation analysis reveals that CSR strengthens the relationship between EPS and stock prices as well as between intellectual capital and stock prices, while the interaction effects of CSR with PBV and digitalization disclosure are not significant. These findings suggest that CSR does not uniformly enhance all value drivers. Model fit varies across specifications, highlighting the importance of robustness checks. Overall, the study shows that CSR enhances the market impact of profitability and intellectual resources, but not all accounting or digital signals. From a managerial perspective, firms should focus on sustaining high-quality earnings, developing intellectual capital, and integrating CSR strategically to improve market valuation.

In the current conditions of the dynamic development of digital technologies, the importance of intellectual capital as a key resource for enhancing an enterprise's competitiveness is growing. It is substantiated that the integration of intellectual capital into the strategic management of an enterprise is a necessary condition for increasing its adaptability, innovativeness and competitiveness. The purpose of the article is to substantiate and develop an adaptive-process approach to choosing a strategy for developing the potential of an enterprise's capital for intellectualization in the conditions of the economy's digitalization. The methodological basis of the study is the adaptive-process approach, which combines the principles of strategic management, process approach and digital transformation. To justify the choice of the optimal strategy, the method of analysis of hierarchies (AHI) by T. Saati was used, which allowed structuring the problem, evaluating alternative options and determining the most effective strategy for the development of the intellectualization of capital. An information- and procedural-based model for assessing and selecting a strategy for developing an enterprise's intellectual capital was proposed. Based on the method of pairwise comparisons, a hierarchical model was formed that allows considering the influence of financial, investment and intellectual factors. Local and global priorities were calculated, based on which it was determined that the most relevant strategy under the conditions of digital transformation is the retention strategy, which ensures the stability of key intellectual resources and increases the adaptive potential of the enterprise. The results of the study confirm the feasibility of using the adaptive-process approach as an effective tool of strategic management, which allows increasing the level of consistency of management decisions, strengthening intellectual potential and ensuring the sustainable functioning of the enterprise in the conditions of digital challenges.

This study examines relationships among knowledge-oriented leadership, knowledge ‎management, intellectual capital, organizational innovation, and organizational performance in ‎higher education institutions. Integrating the knowledge-based view, resource-based view, and ‎dynamic capabilities theory, this research tests a framework positioning organizational innovation ‎as a mediator between knowledge-related antecedents and institutional performance. Survey data ‎were collected from 386 university administrators across public and private higher education ‎institutions in Hainan Province, China, and analyzed using partial least squares structural ‎equation modeling. Results reveal that knowledge-oriented leadership significantly influences ‎both knowledge management practices and intellectual capital development. Knowledge ‎management and intellectual capital positively affect organizational innovation, which ‎subsequently enhances organizational performance. Mediation analysis confirms organizational ‎innovation partially mediates relationships between knowledge-related resources and ‎performance. Findings contribute to higher education management literature by illuminating ‎pathways through which knowledge-centric leadership practices foster institutional effectiveness ‎in a rapidly developing provincial context. Practical implications for university administrators and ‎directions for future research are discussed‎.

Ideally, Islamic banks require a distinct performance assessment methodology from conventional banks due to transcendent elements. The deconstruction of sharia performance employed the epistemological procedure of the burhani mindset, involving logical analysis of qauliyah and qauniyah verses aligned with sharia purposes, yielding a sharia performance measure. In the IT era, human resource optimization and ESG practices drive company performance. This quantitative study examined intellectual capital's effect on improving sharia performance in Islamic banks, with ESG as mediator. Using purposive sampling, it gathered 126 observations from 18 Islamic commercial banks across eight Asian countries (2017–2023). Data from official websites and Bloomberg were analyzed via path analysis. Findings: Intellectual capital negatively affected sharia performance and ESG, though long-term investments eventually boost environmental awareness and sharia compliance. ESG positively influenced sharia performance, aligning maqashid sharia with SDGs. ESG partially mediated the intellectual capital–sharia performance relationship, with the indirect path lower yet significant compared to the direct path.

Purpose This paper investigates how Geographical Indications (GIs) operate as territorial ecosystems of Intellectual Capital (IC) that mobilize human, structural, and relational resources to foster green innovation in the European agricultural systems. It also examines how this relationship varies with regions' technological proximity to the frontier. Design/methodology/approach We compile a panel dataset for 251 regions in the EU-27 (1996–2022), combining eAmbrosia, OECD RegPat and ARDECO data. Green patents in agriculture are used as proxies for technological environmental innovation. A two-way fixed-effects Poisson Pseudo Maximum Likelihood estimation and additional robustness checks assess the effect of GIs on regional green innovation conditional on the distance to the technological frontier. Findings GIs significantly enhance regional green innovation capability, particularly in technologically lagging regions, where they act as collective IC infrastructures that enable cooperation, knowledge diffusion and adaptation. In frontier regions, the effect weakens or reverses, suggesting that strong market protection may reduce incentives for innovation. Research limitations/implications Patent data capture only codified technological innovation; future research should explore non-technological innovations. Practical implications GIs can be leveraged as strategic IC architecture to strengthen regional innovation ecosystems and align local identity with green transition goals, especially in lagging regions. Originality/value The study advances IC research by conceptualizing GIs as territorial IC systems integrating human, relational and structural capital to support place-based sustainability transitions. It provides novel empirical evidence on how collective intangible assets foster green technological upgrading and regional resilience.

This study aims to analyze the influence of Intellectual Capital on Business Resilience through Digital Capability as a mediating variable in Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) within the ecotourism sector in Surakarta. Amidst the surge in international tourist arrivals in 2025, ecotourism SMEs are faced with technological disruption and market volatility that demand organizational resilience. This research employs a quantitative explanatory approach using a survey method with 150 SME respondents. Data were analyzed using Structural Equation Modeling based on Partial Least Squares (SEM-PLS).The results show that Intellectual Capital has a positive and significant effect on Business Resilience and Digital Capability. Furthermore, Digital Capability is proven to have a significant impact on business resilience. The main finding of this study confirms that Digital Capability acts as a partial mediator that strengthens the relationship between intellectual capital and business resilience. The R-squared value (R2) of 0.524 indicates that this model explains 52.4% of the variance in Business Resilience. These findings emphasize that although SMEs in Surakarta possess strong social capital and knowledge, the optimization of business resilience can only be achieved if these intangible assets are integrated with proficient digital capabilities to respond agilely to global market dynamics.

This study aims to analyze the effect of intellectual capital on firm value with profitability as an intervening variable in state-owned banking companies listed on the Indonesia Stock Exchange (IDX) during the 2021–2024 period. The development of globalization and a knowledge-based economy requires companies to rely not only on physical assets but also on intellectual assets, including knowledge, innovation, and the quality of human resources. This study employs a quantitative approach with a causal associative research design. The research sample consists of five state-owned banks, namely Bank Negara Indonesia (BNI), Bank Rakyat Indonesia (BRI), Bank Mandiri, Bank Tabungan Negara (BTN), and Bank Syariah Indonesia (BSI). The data analysis technique used is multiple linear regression based on Partial Least Square (PLS). The results indicate that intellectual capital has a significant effect on firm value but does not have a significant effect on profitability. Profitability, measured using Return on Assets (ROA), is proven to have a positive and significant effect on firm value. Furthermore, profitability does not significantly mediate the relationship between intellectual capital and firm value. These findings indicate that optimal management of intellectual capital can enhance firm value, although it does not directly lead to an increase in profitability.

This study aims to examine the influence of Intellectual Capital (IC) and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) on the performance of Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) in Indonesia, with a focus on the mediating role of innovation. This study employed a quantitative research design, with data collected from MSME owners and managers across multiple provinces in Indonesia. Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) was applied to test the relationships among IC, CSR, innovation, and performance. The results indicated that both IC and CSR have a significant indirect effect on MSME performance through innovation, confirming full mediation. Among the IC dimensions, relational and technological capital have the strongest influence on innovation. CSR also enhances innovation through initiatives related to social welfare, environmental sustainability, and operational efficiency. These findings demonstrate that innovation acts as a strategic bridge linking knowledge assets and social responsibility to business success. The findings suggested that MSME leaders prioritize innovation-driven strategies supported by intellectual and social capital. Policymakers should design programs that integrate CSR and innovation development to strengthen MSME competitiveness and sustainability. This study contributes to the Knowledge-Based View and Stakeholder Theory by establishing innovation as a full mediator between IC, CSR, and performance. The proposed model provides a novel theoretical framework and empirical evidence explaining how MSMEs in developing economies can achieve superior performance through the synergy of knowledge, responsibility, and innovation.

Innovation capability is increasingly critical for organizations facing technological disruption and global competition. In Indonesia, particularly in Batam City’s trading industry, firms struggle to enhance innovation despite the growing availability of digital technologies such as Radio Frequency Identification (RFID), e-commerce platforms, and automation systems. This study investigates how intangible resources – intellectual capital, psychological capital, authentic leadership, and knowledge management – contribute to the development of innovation capability in this context. Data were collected from 306 employees in trading companies and analyzed using partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM). The results show that intellectual capital strongly influences knowledge management, while psychological capital, authentic leadership, and knowledge management significantly enhance innovation capability. Knowledge management also mediates the relationship between intellectual capital and innovation capability. The study contributes to the knowledge-based view by integrating human, leadership, and knowledge perspectives, and extends prior research to the trading sector of an emerging economy. For managers, the findings highlight the importance of investing in intellectual and psychological capital, adopting authentic leadership practices, and strengthening knowledge management systems to maximize the benefits of technological tools such as RFID.

Intellectual capital is becoming increasingly important for a company's competitive advantage and financial as well as non-financial performance. The COVID-19 pandemic has had an impact on organizations' intellectual resources and performance, and little is known about how the company managed various intangible resources during that time. As a result, the focus of this study was on the impact of intellectual capital on the performance of Nepalese commercial banks before and during COVID-19. Quantitative and qualitative data were gathered through an in-depth interview with experienced and knowledgeable bank managers and a structured questionnaire for bank employees. The associations hypothesized were investigated with the help of the structural equation modelling (PLS) technique. The findings demonstrated a connection between both culture and trust and all Intellectual Capital (IC) components; human, structural, and relational capital. The result also demonstrated that while only structural capital had a significant impact on financial performance, all IC components are linked to non-financial performance. The study also looked at how competitive advantage mediates the relationship of intellectual capital with banks' financial and non-financial performance. It was found that competitive advantage mediated banks' non-financial performance more effectively than financial performance. Lastly, the results showed that the COVID-19 effect moderated but had minimal impact on the relationship between intellectual capital components and financial performance. Furthermore, recommendations were provided for organizations and banks to enhance and utilize their intellectual capital to achieve the best performance.

Purpose This study aims to better understand how intellectual capital (IC) of tourism destinations is formed and developed for sustainability by leveraging artificial intelligence (AI). Notably, co-evolution allows conceiving destinations as ecosystems in which relationships between the various stakeholders involved at multiple-levels are circular, with mutual influence and dialectical. Design/methodology/approach A conceptual framework is developed building on some insights from evolving IC research, the co-evolutionary perspective in tourism and AI- and machine learning-based methods for destination modelling. The framework is then operationalised through an AI-driven data model, which is designed, developed and applied to two Italian destinations (Costa dei Trabocchi and Gargano) following the participatory action research approach. Findings The AI-driven data model serves as a core component of the structural capital of the investigated destinations, shaping their human capital at different levels, which in turn contributes to reinforce, and is reinforced by, relational capital. Within this dynamic, the strategic intentionality of policymakers and decision makers, inter-organisational knowledge exchange, team learning and multistakeholder decision making are identified as key determinants that enable AI-generated information to effectively orient multilevel stakeholders towards shared goals, thereby supporting effective co-adaptations within tourism destinations that create value for all involved. Originality/value Our interdisciplinary research provides a novel AI-driven data tool and a co-evolutionary explanation of the processes it leverages, which drive tourism destinations' IC for sustainability.

Purpose This study aims to examine the impact of intellectual capital (IC) on Islamic bank performance (IBP), using four performance indicators: asset turnover, return on assets, return on equity and non-performing loans. It further investigates how corporate governance (CG) mechanisms – specifically board size, board independence and Shariah board involvement – mediate the relationship between IC and IBP. The study supports the broader objectives of socioeconomic justice and sustainable development in Islamic finance. Design/methodology/approach The study uses data from 136 Islamic banks across 29 Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) countries from 2012 to 2023. Analytical methods include structural equation modeling with partial least squares and path analysis to evaluate direct and mediated effects. Findings The findings indicate that IC significantly enhances IBP. All three IC components – human capital efficiency, structural capital efficiency and relational capital efficiency – positively affect performance. Moreover, board size and Shariah board involvement serve as effective mediators. However, Board Independence exhibits a significant adverse effect, suggesting that excessive independence may undermine the efficient use of IC. Research limitations/implications The study recommends that Islamic banks strategically optimize IC and reinforce governance practices, particularly those related to board structure and Shariah compliance. These efforts are critical for enhancing performance and ensuring financial resilience. Further research is suggested to expand CG variables and assess their effects on financial inclusion and ethical banking outcomes. Originality/value This study offers a novel contribution by specifically analyzing Islamic Bank Performance (IBP) across 29 OIC countries – an object of study that has received limited attention in the literature. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, it is among the first to empirically test the mediating role of CG in the IC – IBP relationship within the context of Islamic finance. The findings offer actionable insights into optimizing IC and governance design to foster competitive advantage and support Islamic finance’s ethical and development-oriented mission.

This study examines the influence of social capital, intellectual capital, resource rents, and investment capital on the economic performance of the 18 member states of the European Union from 2005 to 2022. Principal component analysis and factor analysis are employed to construct composite measures of social and intellectual capital. The empirical model integrates static panel estimations with Monte Carlo simulations and Panel Smooth Transition Regression (PSTR) to examine nonlinear and regime-dependent growth functions. Investment capital exerts a greater influence on growth when intellectual capital is above a certain threshold, but social capital and resource rents exhibit diverse effects across various regimes; this is consistent with semi-endogenous growth models. In regimes with low intellectual capital, resource rents adversely influence growth, consistent with the resource curse concept; however, this effect diminishes as intellectual capital rises. Finally, partial least squares structural equation modeling indicates that social capital, investment capital, and resource rents influence economic growth, with this effect mediated by intellectual capital. The findings underscore the necessity for the European Union to cultivate and enhance knowledge-based assets while reducing reliance on resource rents to achieve more resilient and sustainable economic development.