The effect of intellectual capital on employees’ satisfaction and retention

We examined the effect of intellectual capital on employees’ job satisfaction and retention, and also identified two human resource management practices that positively influence intellectual capital. Survey data were collected from 1117 employees of a large Italian company leader in the food product market. Structural equations modelling results showed that intellectual capital positively affects the job attitudes examined, although differences emerged between the three dimensions of intellectual capital. Specifically, human capital and relational capital did not directly affect employees’ job satisfaction and retention as we hypothesised; in fact, these relationships were fully mediated by structural capital. Also, our results identified two measures of human resource management practices (communication and alignment) that positively influenced intellectual capital and also contributed to the improvement of employees’ job satisfaction and retention. Our findings may help managers design and implement intervention programmes and policies for effective intellectual capital management.