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Purpose – This introduction paper to the special issue on “Managing intellectual capital dimensions for organizational value creation” aims to focus on the relationships between intellectual capital (IC), innovation, performance improvement and competitive advantage in private and public organizations. The purpose of this paper is to review and underline some relevant theoretical pillars and contribute to the ongoing debate on how knowledge assets may impact organizational performance and innovation dynamics. Design/methodology/approach – The paper is based on a deep analysis of the managerial literature addressing the nature, the role and the relevance of the IC dimensions for organizational value creation. The conceptual background sets the foundations for a better understanding of the strategic importance of knowledge-based value drivers for innovation and sustainable competitive advantage. Findings – This paper provides a framework summarizing the key assumptions at the basis of a better understanding...

PurposeOrganizational knowledge assets are key organizational factors responsible for firm innovation, as well as effective management. Traditionally, a good piece of research takes the innovation processes from an external perspective, leaving aside the internal complexity that characterizes innovation dynamics. Nevertheless, the innovation capability of a certain firm depends very closely on the intellectual assets and organizational knowledge that it possesses, as well as on its ability to deploy them. In this sense, this paper aims to test empirically the relationships between organizational knowledge assets and the innovation capability of the firm.Design/methodology/approachThe data collection was carried out through a questionnaire on a sample of 251 Spanish high and medium‐high manufacturing firms. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses and multiple linear regressions were also used.FindingsBased on the literature review, this work explores the nature and measurement of organizational capital as well as its role on innovation performance in high and medium‐high manufacturing firms.Practical implicationsThis paper proposes a theoretical and empirical model of technological innovation that, based on organizational knowledge assets, highlights the importance of culture and CEO commitment towards innovation, as well as the role played by communication and information technologies (CITs) applied to management on product innovation capability within high and medium‐high manufacturing firms.Originality/valueThe scarcity of empirical works analyzing the innovation phenomena from an internal point of view adds value to the current academic literature, specifically from an intellectual capital‐based view.

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to provide a conceptual and flexible framework for the management of knowledge workers in the current information economy.Design/methodology/approachResearch from such diverse fields as anthropology, evolutionary biology/psychology, paleontology, molecular biology, neurophysiology, and social network analysis are used in an attempt to find commonalities in these disciplines that will help determine the effects of various organizational contexts on human nature and the innovative capabilities of knowledge workers.FindingsProvides definitive explanations/reasons why knowledge workers should not be managed using Industrial Age management concepts and organizational structures. Also includes four clearly defined descriptive principles for the development of Knowledge Age organizations and social networks.Practical implicationsAn especially useful multidisciplinary source for the development of innovative enterprises capable of motivating and expanding the creative potential of knowledge workers.Originality/valueThe paper identifies critical needs and methodologies for managing knowledge workers in addition to providing fundamental principles for the advancement of flexible and innovation rich organizations.

PurposeThis paper seeks to present a theory clarifying the negative relationship between organizational unit size and knowledge flows referred to as Gita's Rule.Design/methodology/approachThis paper draws from the literature and develops a grounded theory. Various applications and propositions are suggested through this theoretical lens.FindingsIt is suggested that, as the size of an organizational unit increases, the effectiveness of internal knowledge flows dramatically diminishes and the degree of intra‐organizational knowledge sharing decreases.Research limitations/implicationsIt is proposed that 150 employees represents a general breaking point, after which knowledge sharing reduces due largely to increased complexity in the formal structure, weaker interpersonal relationships and lower trust, decreased connective efficacy, and less effective communication.Practical implicationsThe research points to the key dimension of organizational size that must be considered when developing models and reviewing case studies.Originality/valueThe research reported in this paper is among the first to explicitly tackle the issue of how knowledge flows are affected by organizational size. A theory is developed and several research propositions are introduced for future studies.

This paper is structured into four sections. The first section proposes a conceptual framework to analyze organizational learning and its outcomes. It focuses on the strategy perspective of organizational learning – with special attention to the resource and capabilities theory of the firm – addressing its ontology, contributions and problematic. The second section is focused on a particular type of knowledge – the structural capital – that is institutionalized knowledge in the form of organizational processes, structures, technologies, policies and culture. In sum, it represents all forms of knowledge deposits that are not supported by the human being such as organizational routines, strategies and processes and is the result of learning at organizational level. This section studies the map of different types of organizational structural capital of companies: idiosyncratic, core, ancillary and compulsory. Section three shows the results of a case study done in pioneer learning organizations in Europe regarding knowledge measuring and reporting. It analyzes the main indicators used for quantifying the knowledge embedded in the organization and its processes. Finally, the last section explores the main results and implications for knowledge management drawn from this paper.

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to bring the attention of the intellectual capital (IC) research and practice communities to the value of IC in hotels' efforts to resolve or mitigate environmental problems over time. This research has been set to examine the relationships between key KM and IC concepts including environmental knowledge structures and exploitation and exploration of environmental knowledge (EK) as drivers of environmental organisational learning. The research has also examined the relevance of pro-environmental behavioural intention capital (PEBIC) as a component of structural capital and therefore an integral part of the intellectual capital of hotels.Design/methodology/approachThe data analysis technique used to test the proposed conceptual model is partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM). Sample received from 87 companies from the Spanish hospitality sector in a longitudinal study (six years).FindingsThe results support that environmental knowledge structures (exploitation and exploration) has a positive impact on PEBIC over time. In other words, environmental organisational learning has the capability to create structural capital in hotel over time.Originality/valueThe research has addressed the challenges of exploration and exploitation of EK and PEBIC from a perspective not previously covered in the extant literature, further improved by the longitudinal nature of this study. Our focus on the hospitality sector makes this research relevant for management structures at numerous of hotels, as well as to their supply chains around the world. In addition, this research highlights the value to create structural capital through EK and organisational learning in the context of take care of our natural resources.

Purpose – As the complexity and scope of technical and social challenges increase, solutions to those challenges must be addressed by collaborative research and intellectual capital sharing efforts involving multiple organizations. One prominent type of research collaborative is the government-university-industry R&D partnership, an organizational form found in many countries. These collaboratives pose special management challenges, as they must combine the efforts of researchers coming from very different institutional and organizational cultures in order to capitalize their own intellectual capital. Many such partnerships have failed due to the inability to bridge these cultural gaps. The purpose of this paper is to propose a framework for establishing and managing these partnerships, using principles and constructs drawn from institutional theory, organizational learning, alliance theory, and innovation management. Design/methodology/approach – The examples of the NASA Laboratories, which are incubating several companies, are analyzed to show how this framework can highlight key attributes of successful research collaboratives. Findings – The recurring pattern from these diverse case studies shows that the presence of internal and external champions, appropriate technology, and patient risk capital make a difference in winning in a competitive environment. However, part of the same pattern perhaps is the lack of any identifiable recipes for success - critical factors appear to be situation specific. Originality/value – In light of the findings from the seven case studies the authors presented, they recommend using a hybrid portfolio approach in assessing the success of technology transfer and commercialization efforts.

PurposeThe elements that constitute the organizational capital or capital of the firm, namely its culture, structure, organizational learning, can be a source of competitive advantage. This paper is an attempt to assess organizational capital from the resource‐based view.Design/methodology/approachFrom an extensive literature review, an assessment framework for intellectual capital is developed.FindingsBy means of this framework organizational capital can be depicted as a set of: valuable assets; difficult to imitate; to replace; to transfer; with a prolonged life expectancy; and with a feasible rent appropriation.Originality/valueBuilding of such an evaluation framework allows further research about other components of the intellectual capital of the firm, bridging the literatures focused on the resource‐based view and on intangible assets or intellectual capital.

PurposeHow does one speak of knowledge as an asset when it is non‐rivalrous and ephemeral? The purpose of this paper is to frame “knowledge management” (KM) as significantly more than asset management; instead of binding it to rational decision making, it is grounded in managers' creative responses to the typical deficiencies in their knowledge and to uncertainty.Design/methodology/approachDrawing on the method of distinctions a knowledge and intellectual capital (IC) management discourse is constructed that relates, first, to data, meaning, and practice, and second, to knowledge assets and knowledge absences.FindingsThe rationalist treatment of knowledge assets relates data and meaning to purposive practice. Under conditions of uncertainty this is balanced here with a radical constructivist approach that sees meaning as arising from managerial creativity and exploratory organizational practice.Research limitations/implicationsThe practical or managerial implications of this theorizing are legion.The main point is not a theory that supplants managerial creativity; on the contrary, creativity drives both our theory and the organizations that managers manage.Practical implicationsManaging uncertainty forces practice and experience into the foreground. KM and ICM must cover situations in which analysis fails when knowledge is absent just as it covers the management of knowledge assets when they are present.Originality/valueKM (or ICM) is reframed as an empirically grounded critical theory, a direct critique of rational decision‐making and, by implication, of mainstream managerial theorizing.

When organisations succeed in developing and nurturing their organisational learning they create a form of intellectual capital that is difficult for competitors to imitate. Since learning enhances organisational ability to adapt and respond rapidly, it conveys competitive advantage on the organisation. Learning organisations are a special form of organisation where enhancing learning is a strategy to increase intellectual capital. Developing learning organisations has become an imperative for many managers, since an organisation’s learning methods and rate may be the only source of sustainable competitive advantage. However, learning organisation theory tends to be prescriptive and rhetorical, with empirical research still relatively new. This paper contributes to the literature by reporting case‐study research in progress based on four Australian organisations. In the organisations studied, use of the learning organisation metaphor was coupled with an emergent metaphor: organisation as “family”. By employing structure mapping of metaphor within analytical induction, both established methods but not combined before, we show how theory might be developed from metaphor.