Intellectual capital and technological dynamic capability: evidence from Chinese enterprises
| Pages | 453-471 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/JIC-06-2018-0096 |
| Date | 08 August 2019 |
| Published date | 08 August 2019 |
| Author | Yanyu Wang,Xin Su,Huan Wang,Renyu Zou |
| Subject Matter | Information & knowledge management |
Intellectual capital and
technological dynamic capability:
evidence from Chinese enterprises
Yanyu Wang, Xin Su and Huan Wang
School of Economics and Management,
Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications, Beijing, China, and
Renyu Zou
Renmin University of China, Beijing, China
Abstract
Purpose –As the carrier of knowledge, intellectual capital plays a crucial role in technology capability.
However, most of the previous studies focus on technological capability from a static perspective, rather than
take dynamic technology capability into consideration. Based on this research gap, the purpose of this paper
is to investigate the effects of intellectual capital and its sub-dimensions on dynamic technology capability,
measuring by the factor scores of five technological input and output variables.
Design/methodology/approach –The authors combine the system dynamic method and empirical study
to guarantee the internal and external validity. Specifically, the authors design the system dynamic model and
simulation to analyze the system mechanism of intellectual capital and its sub-dimensions on dynamic
technology capabilities from four cause and effect feedback loops. Then, the authors propose eight
hypotheses based on this system dynamic model. In the empirical test phase, the authors employed a panel
data set pertaining to Chinese manufacturing firms from 2007 to 2017, and adopted the fixed effect panel
model according to Hausman test.
Findings –The authors find that intellectual capital efficiency (ICE) and its sub-dimensions (i.e. human
capital efficiency, organizational capital efficiency and capital employed efficiency (CEE) have significantly
positive impacts on dynamic technology capability. The results also show that the positive effects of ICE and
OC on dynamic technology capability would be strengthened in state-owned enterprises compared with
non-state-owned enterprises, while this moderation effect is weakened on the relationship between CEE and
dynamic technology capability.
Originality/value –In this study, the author s first introduce the system dynamic metho d to explore the
relationship of intel lectual capital and dyna mic technology capabi lity, which is a valuab le trial on
combining system scie nce and empirical study. Additionall y, the authors continue to expand the dy namic
technology capability fr om the intellectual capital perspective , and also find the moderating effect from the
ownership aspect. It is b eneficial to the theore tical development of i ntellectual capital a nd dynamic
technology capabilit y. Furthermore, the aut hors provide signific ant inspirations and im plications for
enterprise’smanagers.
Keywords Dynamics, Intellectual capital, Technology management, Technological innovation
Paper type Research paper
1. Introduction
Intellectual capital as the knowledge carrier has drawn a majority of scholar attention
(Dumay and Rooney, 2018; Asiaei et al., 2018; Hussinki et al., 2017). On the one hand,
knowledge and intelligence play an increasingly critical role in innovation activities, on
the other hand, investment and resources spent on innovation activities strengthen the
knowledge and intelligence of enterprises. Therefore, the relationship between
intellectual capital and technological capability emerges as an interesting topic for
both academia and industry.
Journal of Intellectual Capital
Vol. 20 No. 4, 2019
pp. 453-471
© Emerald PublishingLimited
1469-1930
DOI 10.1108/JIC-06-2018-0096
Received 5 June 2018
Revised 10 March 2019
Accepted 23 May 2019
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:
www.emeraldinsight.com/1469-1930.htm
The research, on which this paper is based, was financially supported by the National Natural Science
Foundation of China (Grant No. 71802026) and the Beijing Philosophy and Social Science Funds
(18GLC077).
453
Technological
dynamic
capability
Previous studies have already proved that technological capability carries some
characteristics, such as dynamics, complexity and uncertainty (Leonardo et al., 2018).
The practices of Kodak Company and Nokiawhichfailedtorespondtoexternal
technological changes demonstrate that dynamic technology capability determines not
only the company’s performance but also its survival or extinction. However, the existing
studies of technological capability have not paid much attention on dynamic
framework. Although Xu and Xu (2012) preliminarily provided a concept of dynamic
technology capability, the subsequent researches have not developed this construct,
especially from the most popular input factor perspective, e.g. intellectual capital.
The main purposes of this study focus on two questions: first, what mechanism supports
the role of intellectual capital on the dynamic technology capability? Second, how do
institutional contexts moderate the relationships between intellectual capital and
dynamic technology capability?
To explore above research objectives, this study first brings the system dynamic method
to model the mechanism of intellectual capital and its sub-dimension on dynamic technology
capability. And then employing a sample of Chinese listed companies in manufacturing
industry from 2007 to 2017, we adopt the empirical study to test our hypotheses. The results
show that intellectual capital efficiency (ICE) and its sub-dimensions (i.e. human capital
efficiency (HCE), organizational capital efficiency (OCE), and capital employed efficiency
(CEE)) have significantly positive impacts on dynamic technology capability. Additionally,
the positive effects of ICE and OCE on dynamic technology capability would be
strengthened in state-owned enterprises compared with non-state-owned enterprises,
while this moderation effect is weakened on the relationship between CEE and dynamic
technology capability.
Our study will provide significant theoretical and practical contributions. First, by
employing a system dynamics method to analyze the mechanism of intellectual capital on
dynamic technology capability represents a valuable attempt to clarify the factors
interaction in the dynamic innovation system. Second, our study expands the
technological capability from a dynamic perspective. Technological activities are
definitely complicated, dynamic and uncertain, which matches the assumptions of
dynamic theory. Nevertheless, little researches focus on its dynamic aspects. This study
not only theoretically explains the relationship between intellectual capital and dynamic
technology capability, but also reveals the moderating effect of ownership on the main
effect. Third, practically, findings of this study will facility the firms to adequately allocate
their intellectual resources and better understand the institutional context of their
technological capabilities.
2. Literature review
2.1 Intellectual capital and its sub-dimensions
Scholars have continued to promote the study of intellectual capital from various
perspectives, resulting in a gradually deepening on the intellectual theory. Jordão and Novas
(2017) believed that intellectual capital is made up of intangible assets and the connection
between physical and unphysical resources exist in an organization. Forte et al. (2017)
considered intellectual capital as an important “hidden value”which cannot be identified
directly from the financial statements; it is the difference between the corporate market
value and book value. Sardo et al. (2018) defined intellectual capital as intangible assets that
are not listed explicitly on balance sheets, but positively impact firm’s financial performance
by unveiling the relationship among employees, knowledge, capability and activity. The
World Intellectual Capital Initiative identified intellectual capital as “the dynamic existence
of internal (leadership, organizing and coordination skills, competencies, etc.) and external
(customer satisfaction and loyalty, stakeholder alliances, strategic partnership, brand
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