The third stage of IC: towards a new IC future and beyond
| Published date | 11 January 2013 |
| Date | 11 January 2013 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/14691931311288986 |
| Pages | 5-9 |
| Author | John Dumay |
| Subject Matter | Accounting & finance,HR & organizational behaviour,Information & knowledge management |
GUEST EDITORIAL
The third stage of IC: towards
a new IC future and beyond
John Dumay
Discipline of Accounting, University of Sydney Business School,
Sydney, Australia
Abstract
Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to reflect on the overall contribution made by the papers
presented in this special edition of the Journal of Intellectual Capital.
Design/methodology/approach – This article is an editorial based on the author’s reflections of the
papers presented in this special edition.
Findings – Intellectual capital (IC) has a future, based not only on the third stage of IC research,
which strengthens IC practices inside organisations, but also on a complementary fourth stage which
develops IC eco-systems.
Originality/value – the papers presented ground the third stage of IC research as a legitimate
research undertaking, while at the same time recognising that we need to extend our IC missionary
work beyond the boundaries of the organisation, and into the environment where organisations exist.
Keywords IC third stage, IC fourth stage, IC missionaries, IC research, IC practice, IC education,
Intellectual capital, Research
Paper type Viewp oint
Two previous special editions of the Journal of Intellectual Capital (JIC) inspired me to
suggest this special edition. The first, called “IC at the crossroads – theory and
research” (JIC, 2004, Vol. 4 No. 2) claimed “that awareness of the importance of IC has
been created” and “now the role of researchers as well as practitioners [was] to move to
the next level (Marr and Chatzkel, 2004, p. 224)”. The IC literature identifies these levels
as distinct stages of developing knowledge about IC. The first stage was “raising
awareness” and the second stage was to make IC visible through the “creation of
guidelines and standards” (Petty and Guthrie, 2000, p. 162).
Subsequently, a second special edition called “Intellectual capital: becoming critical”
(JIC, 2006, Vol. 7 No. 1) built upon the concept of IC at the crossroads by examining IC
through a “critical management studies” (CMS) lens. As O’Donnell et al. (2006, p. 5)
explain, “one of these roads takes a critical stance and the purpose of both the CMS stream
and this special issue is to initiate some exploratory discourseon IC from thisperspective”.
Seven years have now passed since this second special edition, and there is evidence
of a growing critical literature about IC. As a result, a recent review and critique in the
field of IC accounting research (ICAR), Guthrie et al. (2012) demonstrated “how ICAR
has moved from what Petty and Guthrie (2000) described as stage one and stage two
research, establishing and developing ICAR as a field and legitimising ICA as an area
of multi-disciplinary and multi-focused research”. From this, they argued for “a third
stage of IC research based on a critical and performative analys is of IC practices in
action”. Thus, the question to be continued to be explored in this special edition of the
JIC is “How is IC?” rather than “What is IC?” (O’Donnell et al., 2006, p. 7). Asking “How
is IC?” is more revealing because it addresses the praxis of implementing IC, rather
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available at
www.emeraldinsight.com/1469-1930.htm
Journal of Intellectual Capital
Vol.14 No.1, 2013
pp. 5-9
rEmeraldGroup PublishingLimited
1469-1930
DOI 10.1108/14691931311288986
5
The third
stage of IC
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