Intellectual Capital Management as a Driver of Sustainability by Florinda Matos Valter Vairinhos Paulo Maurício Selig & Leif Edvinsson

Author:Florinda Matos, Valter Vairinhos, Paulo Maurício Selig & Leif Edvinsson
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Springer International Publishing, Cham

Keywords

SustainabilityIntellectual capital managementEnvironmental, social, and economic sustainability practices

7.1 Introduction

This study is part of the field of investigation into Intellectual Capital Management (ICM), attempting to understand the relationship between ICM practices and sustainability-oriented activities in organizations. It starts from the assumption that development of ICM practices and routines is capable of supporting implementation of sustainability activities in organizations.

In this respect, understanding that studies within the intellectual capital theoretical approach have evolved considerably over recent years is vital, since the seminal studies by Bontis, Keow, and Richardson (2000), Edvinsson and Malone (1998), Stewart (1998) and Sveiby (1997). The concept of Intellectual Capital (IC) is of an intangible asset, which is intrinsic to the knowledge of all the sectors in an organization and which, when properly managed, is capable of providing competitive advantages to the company.

Recent contributions to the literature on ICM have emphasized its potential concerning social and environmental issues, redefining organizations’ contributions to society’s ecosystem. For example, Cavicchi and Vagnoni (2017) and Mertins and Orth (2012) analyze an integrated perspective on sustainability and ICM. These authors define sustainable intellectual capital as the sum of knowledge that contributes to implementation of sustainable development projects in organizations, within the social, economic, and environmental dimensions. Within this context, the research question that motivates this study is defined as: How do intellectual capital management practices support sustainability activities in organizations?

For these reasons, this study is based on an analysis of qualitative data and its objective is to investigate the sustainability activities of a Brazilian industrial firm and its ICM practices that lead to sustainability initiatives.

According to research by Cavicchi and Vagnoni (2017), evidence proves that ICM (of human, structural, and relational capital) can aid in implementation of sustainability projects, enabling organizations to achieve competitive advantages. Therefore, it is worth discussing practices that currently exist in different organizational realities that are capable of enhancing the implementation of actions focused on organizational sustainability. Empirical studies that address the relevance of ICG in the adoption of sustainable strategies are scarce and do not address the value of CI as a whole (Cavicchi & Vagnoni, 2017; De Leaniz & del Bosque, 2013; Mertins & Orth, 2012).

Thus, it appears that the investigation of ICM practices as well as its relationship with the actions of sustainability of organizations express themselves as relevant for scientific research in management. This study is intended to contribute furthermore to the theoretical ongoing discussion in previous studies by Cavicchi and Vagnoni (2017), De Leaniz and del Bosque (2013), Kianto, Andreeva, and Pavlov (2013) and Utama and Mirhard (2016) by presenting a set of practices related to the dimensions of ICM that can maximize sustainability. Thereby, a theoretical basis will be constructed to support the study.

The remainder of this chapter is structured as follows. Section 7.2 presents the discussion on IC management and IC dimensions: human, structural and relational. Section 7.3 presents a discussion on the contribution of ICM to the development of sustainability actions in organizations. Section 7.4 describes the methodology used to develop the research. Results are presented in Sect.

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