Examining the relationship between intellectual capital and labor productivity: with an emphasis on organizational learning

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

1 Assistant Prof., Faculty of Management, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran

2 MSc. Student, Faculty of Management, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran

3 Expert, Ministry of Science, Research and Technology

Abstract

Undoubtedly, the capability and core competencies of employees help to achieve organization goals. Consequently, organizations increase organizational learning capability with the help of intellectual capital, thereby providing improvement of productivity. The current study aims to explain the impact of intellectual capital on labor productivity, considering the mediation of organizational learning. Previous studies rarely examined the relationship between intellectual capital and labor productivity. Moreover, most of the studies neglect the mediating effect of organizational learning in explaining the impact of intellectual capital on labor productivity. This study is performed through descriptive– correlation method, and it is an applied research in terms of purpose and in the scope of human resources in terms of thematic scope. Also, it uses a questionnaire to survey the relationships governing intellectual capital, organizational learning, and labor productivity. The results are based on empirical data collected from Ministry of Science, Research and Technology. The finding of this study indicate that, the intellectual capital has a significant positive effect on labor productivity. Also, the results indicate that, in case of realizing the organizational learning as a mediating variable, it can have significant effect on the relationship between intellectual capital and labor productivity.

Keywords


Abdullaha, D. & Sofiana, S. (2012). The relationship between intellectual capital and corporate performance. Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences, 40: 537-541.
 
Abeysekeraa, I. & Guthrieb, J. (2004). Human capital reporting in a developing nation. The British Accounting Review, 36: 251–268.
 
Arenas, T. & Lavanderos, L. (2008). Intellectual capital: object or process? Intellectual Capital, 9(1): 77-85.
 
Bontis, N. (1998). Intellectual capital: An explanatory study that develop measures and models. Management decision, 36(2): 63-76.
 
Bontis, N. (2001). Assessing knowledgeassets: a review of themodels used to measureintellectual capital. Management Reviews, 3(1): 41–60.
 
Bontis, N. (2001). Managing organizational knowledge by diagnosing intellectual capital: framing and advancing the state of the field. Managing Organizational Knowledge, (pp. 271-301). Canada. Managing Organizational Knowledge.
 
Bontis, N., Keow, W. C. C. & Richardson, S. (2000). Intellectual capital and business performance in Malaysian industries. Intellectual capital, 1(1):
85-100.
 
Burr, R. & Girardi, A. (2002).  Intellectual capital: More than the interaction of competence and commitment. Australian Journal of Management, 27(1):
77-87.
 
Castaneda, D. L. & Rios, M. F. (2007).  From Individual Learning to Organizational Learning. Knowledge Management, 5(4): 363-372.
 
Chen, F. C., Liu, Z. J. & Long Kwehc, Q. (2014). Intellectual capital and productivity of Malaysian general insurers. Economic Modelling, 36: 413–420.
 
Chew, W B. (1988). No-nonsense guide to measuring productivity. Harvard Business Review, 66(1): 110. It's online at:
 
Costa, R. (2012). Assessing intellectual capital efficiency and productivity: An application to the Italian yacht manufacturing sector. Expert Systems with Applications, 39: 7255–7261.
 
Croasdell, D., Jennex, M., Yu, Z., Christianson, T., Chakradeo, M. & Makdum, W. (2003). A Meta-Analysis of Methodologies for Research in Knowledge Management, Organizational Learning & Organizational Memory: Five Years at HICSS. Proceedings of the 36th Annual Hawaii International Conference. 2003.
 
Czirákya, D., Puljizb, J., Jurlinb, K., Malekovićb, S. & Polićb, M. (2002). Covariance structure analysis of regional development data: An application to municipality development assessment. From Industry to Advanced Services: Perspectives of European Metropolitan Region. European Regional Science Association. Dortmund.
 
Dasgupta, M. (2012). Conceptual paper: Organizational learning & its practices. SAGE Open. It’s online ate:  
            http://sgo.sagepub.com/content/2/1/2158244011432198
 
De Castro, G. M., Verde, M. D., López Sáez, P. & López, J. N. (2010). Technological innovation:An intellectual capital-based view. Great Britain by CPI Antony Rowe, Chippenham and Eastbourne.
 
Dierkes, M., Nonaka, I., Child, J. & Antal, A. B. (2001). Handbook of organizational learning and knowledge. Oxford University Press.
 
Dodgson, M. (1993). Organizational learning: A review of some literatures. Organization Studies, 14(3): 375–394.
 
Faghihi, A. & Kashi, Z. M. (2010). A model for the measurement of productivity in the public sector of Iran. Public administration, 4(2): 107-126. (In Persian)
Gao, S., L. Mokhtarian, P. & A. Johnston, R. (2008). Nonnormality of data in structural equation models. Journal of the Transportation Research Board, 2082: 116-124.
 
Garratt, B. (1999). The learning organization 15 years on: Some personal reflections. Learning Organization, 6(5): 202-206.
 
Gieskes, J. & Heijden, B. V. D. (2004). Measuring andenabling learning behavior in product innovationprocesses. Learning Behavior in Product Innovation,13(2): 26-109.
 
Guthrie, J. (2001). The management, measurement and the reporting of intellectual capital. Intellectual capital, 2(1): 27-41.
 
Harrison, S. & H. Sullivan S, P. (2000).  Profiting from intellectual capital learning from leading companies. Intellectual Capital, 1(1): 33-46.
 
Hersey & Goldsmith. (1980). ACHIEVE model. Training & Development Journal, November.
 
Holton, E. F. & Yamkovenko, B. (2008). Strategic intellectual capital development: a defining paradigm for HRD? Human Resource Development Review.
7: 270.
 
Hsu, L. & Wang, H. (2010). Clarifying the effect of intellectual capital on performance: The Mediating Role of Dynamic Capability. British Journal of Management. 23(2): 179-205.
 
Hsu, Y. & Fang, W. (2009). Intellectual capital and new product development performance: The mediating role of organizational learning capability. Technological Forecasting & Social Change, 76: 664–677.
 
Huizing, A. & Bouman, W. (2002). Knowledge and learning markets and organizations, In Choo and Bontis (Eds.). the Strategic Management of Intellectual Capital and Organizational Knowledge. Oxford University Press. New York.
 
Jyothibabu, C., Farooq, A. & Pradhan, B. (2010). An integrated scale for measuring an organizational learning system. The Learning Organization, 17(4):
 303-327.
 
Kianto, A.,Lönnqvist, A. & Sillanpää, V. (2009). Using intellectual capital management for facilitating organizational change. Intellectual Capital, 10(4): 559-572.
 
Kitapic, H. & Celik, V. (2013). Ambidexterity and firm productivity performance: The mediating effect of organizational learning capacity. Procedia-Social & Behavioral Sciences, 99: 1105 – 1113.
 
Kogut, B. & Zander, U. (1996). What firms do? Coordination, identity, and learning.  Organization science, 7(5): 502-518.
 
Kong, E. & Prior, D. (2008). An intellectual capital perspective of competitive advantage in nonprofit organizations. Int. J. Nonprofit Volunt. Sect. Mark. 13: 119–128.
 
Linna, P., pekkola, S., Ukko, J. & Melkas, M. (2010). Defining and measuringproductivity in the public sector:managerial perceptions.Public Sector Management, 23(3): 300-320.
 
Lönnqvist, A., Jääskeläinen, A. & Käpyla, J. (2010). Identifying future challenges for productivity research: evidence from Finland. Productivity and Performance Management, 59: 7.
 
Maier, G., Prange, C. & Rosenstiel, L. V. (2003). Psychological perspectives of organizational learning. In M. Dierkes, A. Berthoin, J. Child & I. Nonaka (Eds.), Handbook of organizational learning and knowledge. Oxford University Press.
 
Massingham, P. & Diment, K (2009). Organizational commitment, knowledgemanagement interventions, and learning organization capacity. The LearningOrganization, 16(2): 122-142.
 
Miller, D. (1996). A preliminary typology of organizational learning: Synthesizing the literature. Management, 22(3): 485-505.
 
Molodchik, M.A., Shakina, E. A. & Bykova, A. A. (2012). Intellectual capital transformation evaluating model. Intellectual Capital, 13(4): 444-461.
 
Noe, R., R., Hollenbeck, J., Gerhart, B. & M. Wright, P. (2011). Fundamentals of human resource management. McGraw-Hill, (Vol. 2): McGraw-Hill.
 
Oeij, P. R. et al (2012). Reflective practice developing the organization’s productivity strategy in various sectors of industry. Productivity and Performance Management, 61(1).
 
Park, H. M. (2008). Univariate analysis and normality test using SAS, Stata, and SPSS.  Working Paper.   
 
Petty, R. M., Cuganesan, S., Finch, N. & Ford, G. (2009). Intellectual capital and valuation: Challenges in the voluntary disclosure of value drivers. Finance and Accountancy. 1(1): 1-7.
Phusavat, K., Comepa, N., Sitko-Lutek, A. & Ooi, K.B. (2013). Productivity management: integrating the intellectual capital. Industrial Management & Data Systems, 113(6): 840-855.
 
Pirayesh, r., Bashokooh, M., Pahlavani Ghomi, M. & Alipur, v. (2010). Exploring effect of learning process on performance in international collaborations. Public administration, 4(2): 39-54. (In Persian)
 
Pritchard, R. D. (1995). Productivity measurement and improvement: Organizational case studies. Greenwood Publishing Group.
 
Ramezan, M. (2011). Intellectual capital and organizational organic structure in knowledge society: How are these concepts related? Information Management, 31: 88–95.
 
Rehman, W., Abdul Rehman, C., Rehman, A. & Zahid, A. (2011). Intellectual capital performance and its impact on corporate performance: An empirical evidence from Modaraba sector of Pakistan. Australian journal of business and management research, 1(5): 08-16.
 
Rexhepi, G., Ibraimi, S. & Veselic, N. (2013). Role of intellectual capital in creating enterprise strategy. Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences. 75: 44 -51.
 
Roos, G., Pike, S. & Fernström, L. (2005). Managing Intellectual Capital in Practice. UK, Elsever Inc.
 
Saint-Onge, H. & Armstrong, C. (2004). The conductive organization. Butterworth-Heinemann. Burlington, Massachusetts.
 
Shulz, M. (2001). Organizational learning. Washington: Blackwell Publishers. Washington.
 
Singh, H., Motwani, J. & Kumar, A. (2000). A review and analysis of the state-of-the-art research on productivity measurement. Industrial Management & Data Systems, 100(5): 234-41.
 
Stewart, T. A. (1997). Intellectual Capital: The new wealth of organizations. London, Doubleday Currency. , London
 
Stokke, H. E. (2008). Productivity growth and organizational learning. Review of Development Economics. 12(4):764–778.
 
Tangen, S. (2002). Understanding the concept of productivity. Paper presented at the Proceedings of the 7th Asia Pacific Industrial Engineering and Management Systems Conference.
 
Tangen, S. (2005). Demystifying productivity and performance. International Journal of Productivity and Performance Management, 54(1): 34-46.
 
Tome, E. (2004). Intellectual capital, social policy,economic development and theworld evolution. Journal of Intellectual Capital, 5(4): 648-665.
 
Ulrich, D. (1998). Intellectual capital equals competence and commitment. Sloan ManagementReview, 39: 15–26.
 
Vieira, A. L. (2011). Interactive LISREL in practice, getting started with a SIMPLIS approach. Heidelberg Dordrecht London and New York, Springer.
 
Wang, C. L. & Ahmed, P. K. (2001). Creative quality andvalue innovation: A platform for competitive success. Paper presented at the Proceedings of the 6th International Conference of ISO9000 and TQM.