Intellectual capital and sustainable development: a systematic literature review
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/JIC-11-2019-0259 |
| Pages | 76-94 |
| Date | 23 April 2020 |
| Published date | 23 April 2020 |
| Subject Matter | HR & organizational behaviour,Behavioural accounting,Accounting/accountancy,Information & knowledge management,Organizational structure/dynamics |
| Author | Federico Alvino,Assunta Di Vaio,Rohail Hassan,Rosa Palladino |
Intellectual capital and sustainable
development: a systematic
literature review
Federico Alvino and Assunta Di Vaio
Department of Law, University of Naples –Parthenope, Napoli, Italy
Rohail Hassan
Othman Yeop Abdullah Graduate School of Business (OYAGSB),
Universiti Utara Malaysia (UUM), Kedah, Malaysia, and
Rosa Palladino
Department of Law, University of Naples –Parthenope, Napoli, Italy
Abstract
Purpose –This paper investigates the literary corpus on the role of intellectual capital (IC) for the sustainable
and innovative development of organisations. It provides a quantitative overview of the academic literature
that constitutes this field. The paper discusses whether IC, through the implementation of knowledge
management (KM) processes, can influence the entrepreneurial orientation (EO) towards the creation of
sustainable business models (SBMs), which are outlined in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 2030
agenda and adopted by all United Nations member states in 2015.
Design/methodology/approach –Based on a databasecontaining 45 publicationsin the English language
witha publication date from 1990to 2019 (October), a bibliometricanalysis wasconducted. Data on publications,
journals, authorsand citations were collected,re-checked and examined by applyingbibliometric measures.
Findings –The bibliographic analysis identified that the research published on IC in the perspective of
sustainability focusses mainly on the measurement of results, in terms of increased business performance. The
results show that the IC is linked to the concept of long-term value. Therefore, the development potential of the
IC is linked to the 2030 agenda for sustainable development (SD). These results also provide a framework for
the literature on IC and SDGs by highlighting the connection with the EO to develop SBMs.
Originality/value –This paper contributes to the literature on IC as a driver for SD. In more detail, it provides
a systematic review of the literature on these topics under the umbrella of the SDG perspective.
Keywords Intellectualcapital (IC),Sustainability development(SD), Entrepreneurialinitiatives(EI), Sustainable
performance(SP), Sustainable developmentgoals (SDGs), New technology (NT), Bibliometrics analysis
Paper type Literature review
1. Introduction
Within the modern knowledge economy (Guthrie et al., 1999;Oliveira et al., 2010), intellectual
capital (IC) marks the transition to innovative, competitive and sustainable development (SD)
(Carrillo et al., 2009). “People”are the engine of this growth, because the knowledge they
possess is the most important resource for the company. IC can be defined as the set of skills
and experiences of the employees of an organisation, which together with the information
JIC
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© Federico Alvino, Assunta Di Vaio, Rohail Hassan and Rosa Palladino. Published by Emerald
Publishing Limited. This article is published under the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY 4.0)
licence. Anyone may reproduce, distribute, translate and create derivative works of this article (for both
commercial and non-commercial purposes), subject to full attribution to the original publication and
authors. The full terms of this licence may be seen at http://creativecommons.org/licences/by/4.0/
legalcode
We would like to thanks to the Editors and Reviewers for their precious suggestions thatallowed us
to improve our study.
Funding: This research has been funded by “Business Administration Research Team”, Department
of Law, University of Naples “Parthenope”.
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:
https://www.emerald.com/insight/1469-1930.htm
Received 12 November 2019
Revised 17 December 2019
Accepted 30 December 2019
Journal of Intellectual Capital
Vol. 22 No. 1, 2021
pp. 76-94
Emerald Publishing Limited
1469-1930
DOI 10.1108/JIC-11-2019-0259
archives expresses with a certain degree of reliability the potential for corporate profit in the
long term (Joshi et al., 2013). Therefore, IC is considered an intangible activity that includes
people, the art of making and learning (human capital), organisational and technological
culture (structural capital) and relations with the external environment (relational capital)
(Oliveira et al., 2010) in the value creation process (Lerro et al., 2014), which guides companies
towards competitiveness (Mavridis, 2004;Xu and Wang, 2018). The IC embodies that sphere
of “intangible”resources not quantified in the budget documents (de Villiers and Sharma,
2017;Bhasin et al., 2011;Bhasin, 2011;Meritum, 2002) but decisive for the creation of long-
term value (Zhou and Fink, 2003), which is necessary for sustainability (Jardon et al., 2019;Xu
and Wang, 2018), in support of economic development and people’s well-being and in line
with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) established by the 2030 agenda of the United
Nations. It is no coincidence that organisations are developing systems for the quantification
and reporting of their IC, considered as a resource capable of improving corporate
competitiveness and increasing stakeholder confidence (Caputo et al., 2016).
IC is predominantly studied as a measurable resource for value creation (Lerro et al., 2014;
Liebowitz et al., 2000); however, from a dynamic point of view, the role of IC in the
implementation of organisational processes for the creation of value based on the knowledge
of the organisation (KM) was analysed to determine the interactions between KM and IC in
order to create and maximise the advantages of IC (Lerro et al., 2014;Zhou and Fink, 2003).
Furthermore, through the involvement of human resources in the corporate disclosure
processes, companies can align themselves with market expectations, disseminating
information that can shorten information asymmetry (Caputo et al., 2016).
In particular, the use of new technologies (NTs) plays a fundamental role for the
dissemination of knowledge (Carrillo et al.,2010), as it allows to maximise the use of
available information (Del Giudice et al., 2019a,b) and to encourage the exchange of
information beyond the boundaries of individual organisations and sectors (Natalicchio
et al., 2019). The ambidextrous companies, through financial and strategic operations also
aimed at implementing NT within their own business model (Rossi et al.,2017), are
increasingly committed to structuring KM paths, in order to exploit the existing skills,
creating profitable combinations for future market needs (Rossi et al.,2019a,b).
Furthermore, the mobilisation of knowledge in all sectors of social, economic and
environmental life has become a key tool to contribute to the creation of a more sustainable
future (Carrillo et al., 2010), which guides the human race towards the development of
systems of production of goods and services while respecting the natural and social balance
of the global ecosystem (Malone and Yohe, 2002).
In this scenario, scholars and professionals seek strategic solutions that put humans at the
centre, combining entrepreneurial spirit and socio-environmental commitment through the
integration of “biophysical, economic and social sustainability components”(Carrillo et al., 2009),
based on knowledge and ethical values, whichhelp to strengthen the capacity of organisations to
create competitive advantages (Jardon et al., 2019;Malone and Yohe, 2002). However, this cannot
be done by neglecting the role of the NTs, which are integrated with people’s know-how, make
information easily accessible and limit the learning times of organisations, thereby improving
profitability (Natalicchio et al.,2019;Carrillo et al., 2010;Sharkie, 2003).
Thus, the aim of this paper is to analyse how the characteristics of the IC can foster the
development of entrepreneurship based on sustainable and intelligent development in line
with SDGs and sustainable performance. In particular, the evolution of the literature on IC
was investigated, including the role of digitisation and the use of NTs towards the creation of
sustainable business models (SBMs). More in detail, this paper states that knowledge
management (KM) and the implementation of IC can contribute to improving competitiveness
and trust of stakeholders, favouring innovation and sustainable growth. The following
research questions are addressed: (1) How does the IC contribute to long-term value creation?
Intellectual
capital and
sustainable
development
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