Intellectual Capital Research through Corporate Social Responsibility: (Re) Constructing the Agenda
The business strategy of any company wanting to be
competitive on the market should be designed around the concept of
intangibles, with an increasingly decisive role in knowledge transfer
of the biggest corporations. Advancing the research in these areas,
this study integrates the two approaches, emphasizing the
relationships between the components of intellectual capital and
corporate social responsibility. The three dimensions of intellectual
capital in terms of sustainability requirements are debated. The paper
introduces the concept of sustainable intellectual capital and debates
it within an assessment model designed on the base of key
performance indicators. The results refer to the assessment of
possible ways for including the information on intellectual capital
and corporate responsibility within the corporate strategy. The
conclusions enhance the need for companies to be ready to support
the integration of this type of information the knowledge transfer
process, in order to develop competitive advantage on the market.
[1] UN - United Nations, Report of the World Commission on Environment
and Development: Our Common Future, 1987, available on line at
http://www.un-documents.net/wced-ocf.htm.
[2] D. Rajdev, "Intellectual Capital Reporting- Why, What & How",
November, 2010, www.indiacsr.in.
[3] J. Roos, "Exploring the Concept of Intellectual Capital", Long Range
Planning, vol. 31, no. 1, pp. 150 - 153, 1998.
[4] M. Strathern, "The tyranny of transparency", British Educational
Research Journal, vol. 26, pp.310-332, 2000.
[5] C. Nielsen, and M. Toft Madsen "Discourses of transparency in the
intellectual capital reporting debate: Moving from generic reporting
models to management defined information", Critical Perspectives on
Accounting, vol. 20, pp. 847-854, 2009
[6] L. Alcaniz, F. Gomez-Bezares, R. Roslender, "Theoretical perspectives
on intellectual capital: A backward look and a proposal for going
forward", Accounting Forum, vol. 35, no. 2, pp. 104-117, 2011.
[7] Global Reporting Initiative, Sustainability reporting Guidelines,
Amsterdam, 2010, www.globalreporting.org.
[8] T. A. Dijk, "Principles of critical discourse analysis", Discourse &
Society, vol. 4, no. 2, pp. 249-83, 1993.
[9] N. Fairclough, Critical discourse analysis: the critical study of language,
London: Longman, 1997.
[10] R. Hart, "Growth, environment, and culture-encompassing competing
ideologies in one new growth model", Ecological Economics, vol. 40,
pp. 253- 267, 2002.
[11] EU - European Union Commission, Green Paper - Promoting a
European framework for Corporate Social Responsibility, 2001, pp.4, 8,
http://eurlex.
europa.eu/LexUriServ/site/en/com/2001/com2001_0366en01.pdf
[12] R. Gray, "Does sustainability reporting improve corporate behavior?
Wrong question? Right time?", Accounting and Business Research, vol.
36, Special Issue, pp. 65-88, 2006.
[13] E. Passetti, A. Tenucci, L. Cinquini, and M. Frey, "Intellectual capital
communication: evidence from social and sustainability reporting",
MPRA Paper 16589, University Library of Munich, Germany, 2009,
http://mpra.ub.unimuenchen.
de/16589/1/Intellectual_capital_communication_def.pdf.
[14] M. E. Porter, and M. R. Kramer, "The Competitive Advantage of
Corporate Philanthropy", Harvard Business Review, vol. 80, no. 12, pp.
5-16, 2002
[15] I. Abeysekera and J. Guthrie "Human capital reporting in a developing
nation", The British Accounting Review, vol. 36, no.3, pp. 251-268,
2004.
[16] N. Bontis, Assessing knowledge assets: a review of the models used to
measure intellectual capital", International Journal of Management
Reviews, vol. 3, no.1, pp. 41-58, 2001.
[17] A. Nestian "Knowledge Management Concepts and Models Applicable
in Regional Development", Management and Marketing, vol. 1, pp. 27-
44, 2007.
[18] C. Armstrong, and H. Saint-Onge, The Conductive Organization
Building Beyond Sustainability, Boston: Butterworth-Heinemann, 2004,
in Nestian, A., 2007
[19] P. Ordonez de Pablos "Intellectual capital reports in India: lessons from
a case study", Journal of Intellectual Capital, vol.6, no. 1, pp. 41-149,
2005.
[20] D. Razafindrambinina, and D. Kariodimedjo "Is Company Intellectual
Capital Linked to Corporate Social Responsibility Disclosure? Findings
from Indonesia", Communications of the IBIMA, 2011, Article ID
511442, 8 pp,
http://www.ibimapublishing.com/journals/CIBIMA/cibima.html.
[21] M. Barnett, "Stakeholder influence capacity and the variability of
financial returns to corporate social responsibility", Academy of
Management Reviews, vol. 32, vo. 3, pp. 794-816, 2007.
[22] A. McWilliams, D. S. Siegal, and P. M. Wright, "Corporate social
responsibility: strategic implications", Journal of Management Studies,
vol. 43 no. 1, pp. 1-18, 2006.
[23] A. Hillman, and G. D. Keim, "Shareholder value, stakeholder
management, and social issues: what-s the bottom line?", Strategic
Management Journal, vol. 22, no. 2, pp. 125-139, 2001.
[24] D. A. Gioia, M. Schultz, K.G. Corley, "Organizational identity, image,
and adaptive instability", Academy of Management Review, vol. 25, no.
1, pp. 63-81, 2000.
[25] M. Branco-Castelo, and L. Rodriguez-Lima, "Corporate social
responsibility and resource-based perspectives", Journal of Business
Ethics, vol. 69, no. 2, pp. 111-132, 2006.
[26] F. Castilla Polo, and D. Gallardo Vazquez "Social information within
the intellectual capital report", Journal of International Management,
vol.14, pp. 353-363, 2008.
[27] F. Bozbura, "Measurement and application of intellectual capital in
Turkey", The Learning Organization, vol. 11, no. 4-5, pp. 357-367,
2004.
[28] P. Bukh, "The relevance of intellectual capital disclosure: a paradox?",
Accounting, Auditing and Accountability Journal, Vol. 16 No. 1, pp. 49-
56, 2003.
[29] A. Brooking, Intellectual capital. The main asset of third millennium
company (El capital intelectual. El principal activo de las empresas del
tercer milenio). Barcelona: Paidos Iberica, 1997
[30] B. Kliksberg, "Social capital and culture: master keys to development",
CEPAL Review, vol. 69, pp.83- 102, 1999.
[31] R. Nidumolu, C. K. Prahalad, and M. R. Rangaswami "Why
sustainability is now the key driver of innovation", Harvard Business
Review, vol. 87, no. 9, pp. 57-64, 2009.
[32] L. Edvinsson, and M. Malone, Intellectual capital: realizing your
company's true value by finding its hidden brainpower. New York:
Harper Business, 1997.
[33] T. A. Stewart, Intellectual capital: The new wealth of organizations.
New York: Doubleday/Currency, 1997.
[34] K. E. Sveiby, The New Organizational Wealth; Managing and
Measuring Knowledge-Based Assets. San Fransisco: Berret-Koehler,
1997.
[35] R. E. Freeman, Strategic Management: A Stakeholder Approach.
Boston: Pitman, 1984.
[36] C. Dawkins, and J. W. Fraas, "An Exploratory Analysis of Corporate
Social Performance and Disclosure", Business & Society, Pre-published
electronically, October, 2008.
[37] J. S. Toms, "Firm resource, quality signals and the determinations of
corporate environmental reputation: some UK evidence", British
Accounting Review, vol. 34, no. 3, pp. 257-282, 2002.
[38] A. Zahavi, "Mate selection - selection for a handicap", J. Theor. Biol.,
vol. 53, pp. 205-214, 1975.
[39] P. L. Joshi, and S. S. Gao, "Multinational corporations' corporate social
and environmental disclosures (CSED) on web sites", International
Journal of Commerce and Management, vol. 19, no.1, pp 27-44, 2009.
[40] J. B. Barney, "Firm resources and sustained competitive advantage",
Journal of Management, vol. 17, no. 1, pp. 99-120, 1991.
[41] B. Villalonga "Intangible resources, Tobin-s q, and sustainability of
performance differences", Journal of Economic Behavior and
Organization, vol. 54, no. 2, pp. 205-230, 2004.
[42] B. Bansal, "Evolving sustainability: a longitudinal study of corporate
sustainable development", Strategic Management Journal, vol. 26, no. 3,
pp. 197-218, 2005.
[43] J. B. Barney, D. and Clark, Resource-Based Theory. Creating and
sustaining competitive advantage. Oxford: Oxford University Press,
2007.
[44] B. A. Colbert, "The complex resource-based view: Implications for
theory and practice in strategic human resource management", Academy
of Management Review, vol. 28, no. 3, pp. 341-358, 2004.
[45] P. M. Wright., B.B. Dunford, and S.A. Snell, "Human resource and the
resource based view of the firm", Journal of Management, vol. 27, no. 6,
pp. 701-721, 2001.
[46] K. K. Reed, M. Lubatkin, and N. Srivivasan, "Proposing and testing an
intellectual capital-based view of the firm", Journal of Management, vol.
43, no. 4, pp. 867-893, 2006.
[47] F. Tuzzolini, and B. Armandi, "A need - hierachy framework for
assessing corporate social responsibility", Academy of Management
Review, vol. 6, no.1, pp. 21-28, 1981.
[48] M. Pedrini "Human capital convergences in intellectual capital and
sustainability reports", Journal of Intellectual Capital, Vol. 8, no. 2, pp.
346 - 366, 2007.
[49] F. J. Fuentes-Garcia, J. M. Nunez-Tabales and R. V. Veroz-Herradon,
"Applicability of corporate social responsibility to human resources
management: perspective from Spain", Journal of Business Ethics, vol.
82, no. 1, pp. 27-44, 2008.
[50] M. de la Cruz Deniz, and P. De Saa Perez, "A resource-based view of
corporate responsiveness toward employees", Organization Studies, vol.
24, no. 2, pp. 299-319,. 2003.
[51] D. W. Greening, and D. B. Turban, "Corporate social performance as a
competitive advantage in attracting a quality workforce", Business &
Society, vol. 39, no. 3, pp. 254-280, 2000.
[52] S. Brammer, A. Millington, and B. Rayton, "The contribution of
corporate social responsibility to organisational commitment", The
International Journal of Human Resource Management, vol. 18, no. 10,
pp. 1701-1718, 2007.
[53] J. E. Post, L. E. Preston, and S. Sach, "Managing the extended
enterprise: the new stakeholder view", California Management Review,
vol. 45, no. 1, pp. 6-28, 2002.
[54] M. P. Miles, L. S. Munilla, and J. Darroch "The role of strategic
conversations with stakeholders in the formation of corporate social
responsibility strategy", Journal of Business Ethics, vol. 69, no. 2, pp.
195-205, 2006.
[55] D. Jamali, A.M. Safieddine, and M. Rabbath, "Corporate governance
and corporate social responsibility: synergies and interrelationship",
Corporate Governance: An International Review, vol. 16, no. 5, pp. 443-
459, 2008.
[56] J. T. Scott, "Corporate social responsibility and environmental research
and development", Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, vol. 16,
no. 3, pp. 313-331, 2005.
[57] L. Renneboog, J. Ter Horst, and C. Zhang, "Socially responsible
investments: Institutional aspects, performance, and investor behavior",
Journal of Banking and Finance, vol. 32, no. 9, pp. 1723-1742, 2008.
[58] E. Porter, and M. R. Kramer, "Strategy and society - The link between
competitive advantage and corporate social responsibility," Harvard
Business Review, HBR Spotlight, 2006.
[1] UN - United Nations, Report of the World Commission on Environment
and Development: Our Common Future, 1987, available on line at
http://www.un-documents.net/wced-ocf.htm.
[2] D. Rajdev, "Intellectual Capital Reporting- Why, What & How",
November, 2010, www.indiacsr.in.
[3] J. Roos, "Exploring the Concept of Intellectual Capital", Long Range
Planning, vol. 31, no. 1, pp. 150 - 153, 1998.
[4] M. Strathern, "The tyranny of transparency", British Educational
Research Journal, vol. 26, pp.310-332, 2000.
[5] C. Nielsen, and M. Toft Madsen "Discourses of transparency in the
intellectual capital reporting debate: Moving from generic reporting
models to management defined information", Critical Perspectives on
Accounting, vol. 20, pp. 847-854, 2009
[6] L. Alcaniz, F. Gomez-Bezares, R. Roslender, "Theoretical perspectives
on intellectual capital: A backward look and a proposal for going
forward", Accounting Forum, vol. 35, no. 2, pp. 104-117, 2011.
[7] Global Reporting Initiative, Sustainability reporting Guidelines,
Amsterdam, 2010, www.globalreporting.org.
[8] T. A. Dijk, "Principles of critical discourse analysis", Discourse &
Society, vol. 4, no. 2, pp. 249-83, 1993.
[9] N. Fairclough, Critical discourse analysis: the critical study of language,
London: Longman, 1997.
[10] R. Hart, "Growth, environment, and culture-encompassing competing
ideologies in one new growth model", Ecological Economics, vol. 40,
pp. 253- 267, 2002.
[11] EU - European Union Commission, Green Paper - Promoting a
European framework for Corporate Social Responsibility, 2001, pp.4, 8,
http://eurlex.
europa.eu/LexUriServ/site/en/com/2001/com2001_0366en01.pdf
[12] R. Gray, "Does sustainability reporting improve corporate behavior?
Wrong question? Right time?", Accounting and Business Research, vol.
36, Special Issue, pp. 65-88, 2006.
[13] E. Passetti, A. Tenucci, L. Cinquini, and M. Frey, "Intellectual capital
communication: evidence from social and sustainability reporting",
MPRA Paper 16589, University Library of Munich, Germany, 2009,
http://mpra.ub.unimuenchen.
de/16589/1/Intellectual_capital_communication_def.pdf.
[14] M. E. Porter, and M. R. Kramer, "The Competitive Advantage of
Corporate Philanthropy", Harvard Business Review, vol. 80, no. 12, pp.
5-16, 2002
[15] I. Abeysekera and J. Guthrie "Human capital reporting in a developing
nation", The British Accounting Review, vol. 36, no.3, pp. 251-268,
2004.
[16] N. Bontis, Assessing knowledge assets: a review of the models used to
measure intellectual capital", International Journal of Management
Reviews, vol. 3, no.1, pp. 41-58, 2001.
[17] A. Nestian "Knowledge Management Concepts and Models Applicable
in Regional Development", Management and Marketing, vol. 1, pp. 27-
44, 2007.
[18] C. Armstrong, and H. Saint-Onge, The Conductive Organization
Building Beyond Sustainability, Boston: Butterworth-Heinemann, 2004,
in Nestian, A., 2007
[19] P. Ordonez de Pablos "Intellectual capital reports in India: lessons from
a case study", Journal of Intellectual Capital, vol.6, no. 1, pp. 41-149,
2005.
[20] D. Razafindrambinina, and D. Kariodimedjo "Is Company Intellectual
Capital Linked to Corporate Social Responsibility Disclosure? Findings
from Indonesia", Communications of the IBIMA, 2011, Article ID
511442, 8 pp,
http://www.ibimapublishing.com/journals/CIBIMA/cibima.html.
[21] M. Barnett, "Stakeholder influence capacity and the variability of
financial returns to corporate social responsibility", Academy of
Management Reviews, vol. 32, vo. 3, pp. 794-816, 2007.
[22] A. McWilliams, D. S. Siegal, and P. M. Wright, "Corporate social
responsibility: strategic implications", Journal of Management Studies,
vol. 43 no. 1, pp. 1-18, 2006.
[23] A. Hillman, and G. D. Keim, "Shareholder value, stakeholder
management, and social issues: what-s the bottom line?", Strategic
Management Journal, vol. 22, no. 2, pp. 125-139, 2001.
[24] D. A. Gioia, M. Schultz, K.G. Corley, "Organizational identity, image,
and adaptive instability", Academy of Management Review, vol. 25, no.
1, pp. 63-81, 2000.
[25] M. Branco-Castelo, and L. Rodriguez-Lima, "Corporate social
responsibility and resource-based perspectives", Journal of Business
Ethics, vol. 69, no. 2, pp. 111-132, 2006.
[26] F. Castilla Polo, and D. Gallardo Vazquez "Social information within
the intellectual capital report", Journal of International Management,
vol.14, pp. 353-363, 2008.
[27] F. Bozbura, "Measurement and application of intellectual capital in
Turkey", The Learning Organization, vol. 11, no. 4-5, pp. 357-367,
2004.
[28] P. Bukh, "The relevance of intellectual capital disclosure: a paradox?",
Accounting, Auditing and Accountability Journal, Vol. 16 No. 1, pp. 49-
56, 2003.
[29] A. Brooking, Intellectual capital. The main asset of third millennium
company (El capital intelectual. El principal activo de las empresas del
tercer milenio). Barcelona: Paidos Iberica, 1997
[30] B. Kliksberg, "Social capital and culture: master keys to development",
CEPAL Review, vol. 69, pp.83- 102, 1999.
[31] R. Nidumolu, C. K. Prahalad, and M. R. Rangaswami "Why
sustainability is now the key driver of innovation", Harvard Business
Review, vol. 87, no. 9, pp. 57-64, 2009.
[32] L. Edvinsson, and M. Malone, Intellectual capital: realizing your
company's true value by finding its hidden brainpower. New York:
Harper Business, 1997.
[33] T. A. Stewart, Intellectual capital: The new wealth of organizations.
New York: Doubleday/Currency, 1997.
[34] K. E. Sveiby, The New Organizational Wealth; Managing and
Measuring Knowledge-Based Assets. San Fransisco: Berret-Koehler,
1997.
[35] R. E. Freeman, Strategic Management: A Stakeholder Approach.
Boston: Pitman, 1984.
[36] C. Dawkins, and J. W. Fraas, "An Exploratory Analysis of Corporate
Social Performance and Disclosure", Business & Society, Pre-published
electronically, October, 2008.
[37] J. S. Toms, "Firm resource, quality signals and the determinations of
corporate environmental reputation: some UK evidence", British
Accounting Review, vol. 34, no. 3, pp. 257-282, 2002.
[38] A. Zahavi, "Mate selection - selection for a handicap", J. Theor. Biol.,
vol. 53, pp. 205-214, 1975.
[39] P. L. Joshi, and S. S. Gao, "Multinational corporations' corporate social
and environmental disclosures (CSED) on web sites", International
Journal of Commerce and Management, vol. 19, no.1, pp 27-44, 2009.
[40] J. B. Barney, "Firm resources and sustained competitive advantage",
Journal of Management, vol. 17, no. 1, pp. 99-120, 1991.
[41] B. Villalonga "Intangible resources, Tobin-s q, and sustainability of
performance differences", Journal of Economic Behavior and
Organization, vol. 54, no. 2, pp. 205-230, 2004.
[42] B. Bansal, "Evolving sustainability: a longitudinal study of corporate
sustainable development", Strategic Management Journal, vol. 26, no. 3,
pp. 197-218, 2005.
[43] J. B. Barney, D. and Clark, Resource-Based Theory. Creating and
sustaining competitive advantage. Oxford: Oxford University Press,
2007.
[44] B. A. Colbert, "The complex resource-based view: Implications for
theory and practice in strategic human resource management", Academy
of Management Review, vol. 28, no. 3, pp. 341-358, 2004.
[45] P. M. Wright., B.B. Dunford, and S.A. Snell, "Human resource and the
resource based view of the firm", Journal of Management, vol. 27, no. 6,
pp. 701-721, 2001.
[46] K. K. Reed, M. Lubatkin, and N. Srivivasan, "Proposing and testing an
intellectual capital-based view of the firm", Journal of Management, vol.
43, no. 4, pp. 867-893, 2006.
[47] F. Tuzzolini, and B. Armandi, "A need - hierachy framework for
assessing corporate social responsibility", Academy of Management
Review, vol. 6, no.1, pp. 21-28, 1981.
[48] M. Pedrini "Human capital convergences in intellectual capital and
sustainability reports", Journal of Intellectual Capital, Vol. 8, no. 2, pp.
346 - 366, 2007.
[49] F. J. Fuentes-Garcia, J. M. Nunez-Tabales and R. V. Veroz-Herradon,
"Applicability of corporate social responsibility to human resources
management: perspective from Spain", Journal of Business Ethics, vol.
82, no. 1, pp. 27-44, 2008.
[50] M. de la Cruz Deniz, and P. De Saa Perez, "A resource-based view of
corporate responsiveness toward employees", Organization Studies, vol.
24, no. 2, pp. 299-319,. 2003.
[51] D. W. Greening, and D. B. Turban, "Corporate social performance as a
competitive advantage in attracting a quality workforce", Business &
Society, vol. 39, no. 3, pp. 254-280, 2000.
[52] S. Brammer, A. Millington, and B. Rayton, "The contribution of
corporate social responsibility to organisational commitment", The
International Journal of Human Resource Management, vol. 18, no. 10,
pp. 1701-1718, 2007.
[53] J. E. Post, L. E. Preston, and S. Sach, "Managing the extended
enterprise: the new stakeholder view", California Management Review,
vol. 45, no. 1, pp. 6-28, 2002.
[54] M. P. Miles, L. S. Munilla, and J. Darroch "The role of strategic
conversations with stakeholders in the formation of corporate social
responsibility strategy", Journal of Business Ethics, vol. 69, no. 2, pp.
195-205, 2006.
[55] D. Jamali, A.M. Safieddine, and M. Rabbath, "Corporate governance
and corporate social responsibility: synergies and interrelationship",
Corporate Governance: An International Review, vol. 16, no. 5, pp. 443-
459, 2008.
[56] J. T. Scott, "Corporate social responsibility and environmental research
and development", Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, vol. 16,
no. 3, pp. 313-331, 2005.
[57] L. Renneboog, J. Ter Horst, and C. Zhang, "Socially responsible
investments: Institutional aspects, performance, and investor behavior",
Journal of Banking and Finance, vol. 32, no. 9, pp. 1723-1742, 2008.
[58] E. Porter, and M. R. Kramer, "Strategy and society - The link between
competitive advantage and corporate social responsibility," Harvard
Business Review, HBR Spotlight, 2006.
@article{"International Journal of Business, Human and Social Sciences:59602", author = "Camelia Iuliana Lungu and Chirața Caraiani and Cornelia Dascălu", title = "Intellectual Capital Research through Corporate Social Responsibility: (Re) Constructing the Agenda", abstract = "The business strategy of any company wanting to be
competitive on the market should be designed around the concept of
intangibles, with an increasingly decisive role in knowledge transfer
of the biggest corporations. Advancing the research in these areas,
this study integrates the two approaches, emphasizing the
relationships between the components of intellectual capital and
corporate social responsibility. The three dimensions of intellectual
capital in terms of sustainability requirements are debated. The paper
introduces the concept of sustainable intellectual capital and debates
it within an assessment model designed on the base of key
performance indicators. The results refer to the assessment of
possible ways for including the information on intellectual capital
and corporate responsibility within the corporate strategy. The
conclusions enhance the need for companies to be ready to support
the integration of this type of information the knowledge transfer
process, in order to develop competitive advantage on the market.", keywords = "Corporate social responsibility, corporate strategy,
intellectual capital, sustainability", volume = "6", number = "4", pages = "595-8", }
