Developing a tool for intellectual capital assessment: An individual-level perspective

This paper aims to develop a model for assessing and valuing the intellectual capital of an organization by gathering data from individual employees. Also, the paper empirically investigates the relationship between intellectual capital and a specific dimension of employees’ performance. Two surveys were conducted on employees of a leading company in the Italian food product market. The sample analyzed comprises 1,117 observations. A structural equations modelling (SEM) methodology was used to define the measurement model and to determine the relations between intellectual capital and employees’ performance. The model for intellectual capital assessment developed in this paper may integrate already existing intellectual capital frameworks. The three dimensions of intellectual capital identified mutually affect and have a positive effect on employees’ performance. Our findings contribute to the discussion in the promising research stream of intellectual capital management. As limitations, this study focuses on a single company, and it exclusively adopts individual-level perceptual indicators. These elements make it difficult for any inter-company comparison.