The role of causal maps in intellectual capital measurement and management
| Pages | 522-546 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/JIC-01-2013-0008 |
| Published date | 21 October 2013 |
| Date | 21 October 2013 |
| Author | Marco Montemari,Christian Nielsen |
| Subject Matter | Information & knowledge management,Knowledge management |
The role of causal maps
in intellectual capital
measurement and management
Marco Montemari
Department of Management, Faculty of Economics “G. Fu `
a”,
Universit`
a Politecnica delle Marche, Ancona, Italy, and
Christian Nielsen
Department of Business Studies, Aalborg University, Aalborg, Denmark
Abstract
Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate the measurement and the management of the
dynamic aspects of intellectual capital through the use of causal mapping.
Design/methodology/approach – The paper details the methods utilized in a single in-de pth case
study of a network-based business model.
Findings – The paper illustrates how causal mapping can be used to understand how intellectual
capital really works in the specific business context in which it is deployed. Moreover, exploiting
the causal map as a platform for extracting a set of indicators can provide information on the length
of the lag and the persistence of the effects of managerial actions. In addition, it can signal when and
how to refine and update the causal map. The combination of these factors can potentially support the
dynamic measurement and management of intellectual capital.
Research limitations/implications – The paper presented has two main limitations. First, the use
of a single case study to provide in-depth and rich data limits the generalizability of the observations.
Second, the proposed approach has not been implemented in practice. Futu re research opportunities
include interventionist-type case studies that put the causal mapping approach into practice.
Practical implications – The paper highlights the need to build causal maps to enhance the
measurement and management of intellectual capital, which is dynamic in nature. As a consequence,
this tool can be useful for monitoring the intangibles of companies and networks and to better
understand the contribution their intellectual capital makes to the value creation process.
Originality/value – The paper openly questions the measurement of the fluid and dynamic aspects
of intellectual capital. It proposes a tool for governing these aspects and it suggests that even the
existing intellectual capital measurement systems can improve their usefulness by including these
dimensions. So, a shift in intellectual capital measurement is prescribed.
Keywords Measurement, Causal maps, Intellectual capital dynamism, Network-based businesses
Paper type Research paper
1. Introduction
This paper investigates possibilities for creating more dynamic modes of measurement
and management of intellectual capital performance. Several authors have recently
argued that intellectual capital is an inten sely complex web of company-specific
knowledge resources (Dumay, 2009; Dumay and Cuganesan, 2011). Because intellectual
capital is a fluid and dynamic phenomenon, its complexity and ambiguity has to be
analyzed in the specific company in which it is applied. Therefore, the objective of this
paper is to answer the call for performative research made by Mou ritsen (2006) and
more recently repeated by Guthrie et al. (2012) and Dumay and Garanina (2013).
The implication that these authors’ research puts forth is that measuring and
managing intellectual capital dynamism is essential for managers in order to govern
the value creation process of their companies and the networks in which they are
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available at
www.emeraldinsight.com/1469-1930.htm
Received 16 January 2013
Revised 9 April 2013
29 April 2013
Accepted 29 April 2013
Journal of Intellectual Capital
Vol. 14 No. 4, 2013
pp. 522-546
rEmeraldGroup PublishingLimited
1469-1930
DOI 10.1108/JIC-01-2013-0008
522
JIC
14,4
encompassed. However, the intellectual capital measurement systems (ICMSs) of
today have been criticized for not being fully able to explain the value creation process
triggered by intangibles (Mouritsen, 2006; O’Donnell et al., 2006; Dumay, 2009).
Intangible resources in existing ICMSs are extracted from the context in which they
work and are then measured “on hold,” not “in action” (Chiucc hi, 2013). Hence, the
dynamic aspects of intellectual capital are not fully measured and managed. Sin ce
the state of the art in this research area is still unable to provide exhaustive answers,
we need further steps aimed at understanding whic h types of tools are suitable in order
to dominate the real nature of intellectual capital, i.e. its complex and dynamic asp ects.
From this perspective, causal maps can help to fill this gap.
Specifically, this paper presents the case study of a network of companies that are
working to develop and utilize mobile phone location data for commercial purposes.
Thus, the first aim of this paper is to represent the relationships among the intellectual
capital elements activated by companies in the network through a causal map. This
visualization can make the dynamic aspects of intellectual capital accessible to
managers, thereby potentially enabling a more effective managerial intervention. The
second aim of the paper is to explore how the causal map can be applied as a platform
for extracting indicators, thus supporting the measurement and the management of
intellectual capital dynamism. The paper makes a contribution to the intell ectual
capital measurement literature by showing how to obtain additional infor mation on
the dynamics of intellectual capital in order to improve manageability of it and, as
a consequence, its contribution to value creation. As such, this paper contributes to
the extant literature by providing important insight into the design of performance
measurement systems in networks. Following along these lines, the paper also provides
an important understanding of the distinction between the value network analysis
proposed by Verna Allee (2000, 2002) and the causal mapping techniques adopted by
scholars such as Marr et al. (2004),Fernstro
¨met al. (2004), Cuganesan(2005), Carlucci and
Schiuma (2006, 2007), Cuganesan and Dumay (2009), Jhunjhunwala (2009).
The structure of the remainder of the paper is as follows: Section 2 offers a
discussion of the evolution of the concept of intellectual capital and its measu rement
along with a description of the causal mapping tool and its application to intellectual
capital visualization. Section 3 describes the features of the case study network, called
the Gemini network, while Section 4 presents the methodology used to collect and
analyze the data on which the causal map is built. Section 5 discusses the findings of
the paper and Section 6 concludes the paper by presenting the main implicatio ns of the
discussion for the dynamic measurement and management of intellectual capital.
2. Intellectual capital measurement and management
The concept of intellectual capital is closely related to the creation, sharing and
management of knowledge within companies (Mouritsen et al., 2005; Guthrie et al.,
2012). Especially in the early stages of research concerning intell ectual capital, many
definitions and associated classifications have been propo sed to understand what it is
and where it is located within the company (Catasu
´s and Chaminade, 2007). Already in
1997, Edvinsson (1997) defined intellectual capital as “the possession of knowledge,
applied experience, organizational technology, customer relationships and professional
skills that provide [y] a competitive edge in the market.” In the Danish Guideline for
Intellectual Capital Statements (Mouritsen et al., 2003) the concepts of intellectual
capital and knowledge management are intertwined as these intrins ic aspects
are given a form which can be managed (se e also Mouritsen and Larsen 2005).
523
Intellectual
capital
measurement
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