Representation of intellectual capital’s components amongst Italian social enterprises
| Date | 10 July 2017 |
| Pages | 564-587 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/JIC-12-2016-0127 |
| Published date | 10 July 2017 |
| Author | Paula Benevene,Eric Kong,Barbara Barbieri,Massimiliano Lucchesi,Michela Cortini |
| Subject Matter | Information & knowledge management,Knowledge management,HR & organizational behaviour,Organizational structure/dynamics,Accounting & Finance,Accounting/accountancy,Behavioural accounting |
Representation of intellectual
capital’s components amongst
Italian social enterprises
Paula Benevene
LUMSA University, Rome, Italy
Eric Kong
School of Management and Marketing,
University of Southern Queensland, Toowoomba, Australia
Barbara Barbieri
Universita degli Studi di Cagliari, Cagliari, Italy
Massimiliano Lucchesi
LUMSA University, Rome, Italy, and
Michela Cortini
University G. d’Annunzio, Chieti, Italy
Abstract
Purpose –The purpose of this paper is to understand the representation that senior managers of Italian
social enterprises have about their organization’s intellectual capital (IC), precisely about the human capital,
relational capital and organizational capital.
Design/methodology/approach –This paper used a qualitative approach. A total of 81 senior managers
were interviewed individually. Interview data were analyzed using different techniques of content analysis,
particularly by using the T-Lab software (analysis of word occurrence and co-word mapping, analysis of
Markovian sequences).
Findings –Findings confirm the divide between theory and practice of IC. The representation of the
IC dimensions is rather different from the definition that is found in the academic literature. Limited
awareness about IC components and their generative power of knowledge determines a limited exploitation of
the social enterprises’organizational knowledge.
Research limitations/implications –The group reached is limited to Italy and is not statistically
representative of all Italian social enterprises.
Practical implications –Social enterprises are crucial in the development and well-being of societies.
However, the findings suggest that many social enterprises managers are not fully aware of the importance of
IC and how it may create value for their organizations. This paper stresses that senior managers of social
enterprises need to, through various methods, have a better understanding of IC management and knowledge
creation if they are to fully utilise the potential of IC in their organizations for survival and growth.
Originality/value –This is the first attempt to explore the perception of IC’s components among social
enterprises, which represent an important development of non-profit organizations.
Keywords Relational capital, Intellectual capital, Human capital, Non-profit organizations,
Organizational capital, Social enterprises
Paper type Research paper
1. Introduction
Non-profit organizations (NPOs) have been long overlooked by management theories and
studies, in spite of their relevance for the communities and individuals reached by their
services. Their actions spam from funding research to advocacy, as well as from social
services to historical heritage protection. They are rightly regarded as organizations that
promote the active participations of citizens with the aim of improving the quality of life
of individuals and their communities (Borzaga and Fazzi, 2011). The relative paucity of
management and organizational theories explicitly devoted to NPOs is thus surprising, also
Journal of Intellectual Capital
Vol. 18 No. 3, 2017
pp. 564-587
© Emerald PublishingLimited
1469-1930
DOI 10.1108/JIC-12-2016-0127
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:
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in the light of the increasing number of these organizations in the past three decades
(Salamon, 2010). Whilst these organizations are experiencing an increasing demand to
provide services, they are also facing a substantial reduction in public funds. Moreover,
NPOs are confronting increasing competition with for –profit organizations for service
delivery and among themselves for volunteers, donors and state resources (Kong, 2007).
Thus, the organizations are facing difficulties in meeting all of these challenges and as a
result many of them are pushed to turn into social enterprises (Maier et al., 2016).
Social enterprises are more flexible than traditional NPOs in terms of raising capital
through commercial revenues (Kong, 2010). This is the main reason behind the increasing
number of new organizations characterized by an entrepreneurial spirit whilst still being
focussed on social aims. Nonetheless “social enterprise”is still an umbrella term that covers
a number of different organizational forms (Defourny and Nyssens, 2010). These can be
generally defined as hybrid organizations since they mix different governance-principles
which are individually associated with the free market, the state and civil society
(Evers, 2005), as well as combining a variety of resources –made of market, non-market and
non-monetary resources such as volunteering (Laville and Nyssens, 2001).
For the purposes of this paper, we will specifically adopt Defourny and Nyssens’(2010, p. 41)
definition of social enterprises, which is grounded on comparative research and defines such
organizations as having the following three elements: an economic and entrepreneurial
dimension; a social dimension; a participatory governance.
According to the latest available information, there are currently 774 social enterprises in
Italy. This number specifically refers to organizations that are officially recognized as such
according to the relevant legislation (Law 118/05), and are registered in the Business
Register of Social Enterprises.
The figure, however, does not reflect the whole world of Italian social enterprises. In fact
there are an additional 574 enterprises declaring to be a “social enterprise”in their statute,
which are most likely not registered in the Italian Business Register of Social Enterprises, as
well as an additional 12,570 social cooperatives, which represent the widest legal and
organizational model for social enterprises in Italy and Europe. There are also an additional
82,231 market-oriented NPOs which can count on 440,389 employees and 1,627 volunteers,
and represent a great potential for the development of more social enterprises in Italy
(Venturi and Zandonai, 2014).
If the establishment of social enterprises, or NPOs’transformation into these, was meant
to overcome organizations’financial constraints, the available data highlight that such
problems have not yet been successfully addressed. According to a recent survey carried
out on a group of 1,000 social enterprises, the percentage of those facing financial difficulties
was 38 per cent. Moreover, only 38 per cent of social enterprises were foreseeing to make
any kind of investment in the following 12 months (ISNET, 2015).
The concept of intellectual capital (IC)
According to Drucker (1988), knowledge is the only source of sustainable competitive
advantage. NPOs and social enterprises offer services that are intangible by their own
nature and thus can be considered as knowledge-intensive enterprises (Lettieri et al., 2004).
Moreover, social enterprises today are strongly pushed by the aforementioned challenges to
place greater emphasis on innovation (Kong, 2010). Their survival and growth in an
increasingly competitive environment depends on their ability in managing and developing
their knowledge (Hume and Hume, 2008).
Knowledge has proven to play a key role in achieving excellence and innovation in the
non-profit sector and beyond. However, NPOs and social enterprises are defined as
immature organizations since their knowledge is often fragmented and poorly formalized
(Lettieri et al., 2004). Their approach adopted towards knowledge creation may then play a
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Representation
of IC’s
components
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