A critical reflection on the future of financial, intellectual capital, sustainability and integrated reporting

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to build on Dumay and Cai’s (2014) prior research to provide a deeper analysis of the problems associated with using content analysis (CA) as a research methodology for investigating intellectual capital disclosure (ICD). Design/methodology/approach – Totally, 110 articles utilising CA as a research methodology for inquiring into ICD are analysed based on Krippendorff’s (2013) conceptual CA research framework and design logic, and tied into issues relating to CA as a research methodology for investigating ICD. Findings – The authors advocate that ICD CA researchers need to go back to the drawing board and ensure that future studies rigorously apply the basic logic of CA design. In its current state, ICD CA research needs to take a few steps back, before it can move forward. If ICD CA researchers can accomplish this, then there is an opportunity to undertake rigorous research to develop reliable and valid outputs that add to new knowledge about IC. Research limitation...

Using content analysis as a research methodology for investigating intellectual capital disclosure : a critique

This study investigates the dynamic relationship between intellectual capital (IC) and firm performance (FP) through system generalised methods of moments, when previous studies produced divergent results based on static OLS or fixed-effects estimations. Based on 571 listed firms in Australia for the period of 2005–2014 (5518 firm-years) this study reveals that IC efficiency is positively significant with ROA and ROE – which endorses resource-based theory. Further analysis shows that human capital, structural capital and physical capital are also significant and confidently endorse resource-dependency and organisation-learning theories. The findings of this study are vital for stakeholders such as management, shareholders and potential investors to understand the role of IC for FP. Moreover, the findings are particularly important for policy-setters to highlight the importance of IC and develop a systematic framework for IC disclosure. This study also opens new avenues for future research to consider the dynamic nature of the IC–FP relationship and account for endogeneity.

The Importance of Intellectual Capital for Firm Performance: Evidence from Australia

Purpose: This article aims to provide a bibliometric and systematic literature analysis of studies published in the Journal of Intellectual Capital (JIC) from 2014 to 2018 in order to highlight emerging themes and future trends. 

Methodology: The analysis focused on 187 papers published in the JIC over five years. A scientometric approach to data mining enabled the detection of patterns in the dataset. Precisely, the investigation was conducted by integrating a bibliometric analysis on VOSviewer with a systematic literature review. 

Findings: Four main streams of research have emerged in the JIC during the years of the analysis: reporting and disclosure of intellectual capital; intellectual capital research in universities, education and public sector; knowledge management; intellectual capital, financial performance, and market value. 

Research implications: The study offers compelling insights into the topics covered by the Journal of Intellectual Capital by identifying the main research gaps and trends along with future research avenues. 

Originality: Prior scholars mostly focused on systematic literature reviews, while the use of bibliometric methods generally seems to be a missing tile in the research domain. Also, none of the extant studies have focused on the Journal of Intellectual Capital regarding the 2014 to 2018 period. The use of both bibliometric and systematic approaches to literature review delivered remarkably fine-tuned results in terms of factors such as citations, contents, and evolution of clusters over time.

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Journal of Intellectual Capital: a review of emerging themes and future trends

The purpose of this paper is to examine the extent and quality of voluntary intellectual capital disclosures (ICD) by professional accounting firms (PAFs) in the UK.,The research method adopted for this study is content analysis considering the ICD in firms’ annual reports, corporate social responsibility reports, websites and recruitment materials. The sample for this research is based on 20 PAFs ranked by fee income. The paper employs institutional theory as its theoretical lens.,The findings of this paper show that ICDs vary across different forms of reports. The most frequently reported disclosure category is human capital, while the least reported category is internal capital. Monetary disclosures are most likely to relate to internal capital, while pictorial disclosures are most likely to relate to human capital.,The sample size of the study is relatively small reflecting the extreme market concentration of accounting services in the UK and internationally. Future research can conduct a longitudinal study to capture the trend of reporting practices and consider narrative and discursive approaches to ICD.,No previous studies of intellectual capital (IC) disclosure have considered ICDs in professional service firms that are in themselves rich sources of human capital. Furthermore, the investigation uses a wide range of communications and assesses monetary, non-monetary, narrative and pictorial disclosures. This research extends both the IC disclosure and PAFs’ literatures.

https://myresearchspace.uws.ac.uk/ws/files/10038409/Accepted_Author_Manuscript.pdf

Intellectual capital disclosure: evidence from UK accounting firms

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the extent and quality of voluntary intellectual disclosures by information technology (IT) companies of China and India. Design/methodology/approach – The research method adopted for this study is content analysis. The research is limited to the intellectual capital information disclosed in companies’ annual report. The sample for this research is based on 20 IT companies listed by market capitalization listed on Shenzhen or Shanghai stock exchange market, and the largest 20 companies listed on Indian stock market. Findings – Indian IT companies tends to perform better than Chinese IT companies in extent and quality of disclosures. The extent of disclosure of both countries is at a relatively high level. The most frequently reported disclosure category in India is external capital, while the least one is human capital. In China, external capital is the most frequently disclosed category, while the internal capital is the least one. Research limitations/im...

Intellectual capital disclosure by Chinese and Indian information technology companies

In recent years, the development of metropolitan region not only contributes to the transformation of China’s economic growth model, but also becomes an increasingly important way to build a new double-cycle pattern. Among them, the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Metropolitan Region, Yangtze River Delta and Pearl River Delta urban agglomerations, as the core strategic area of national economic growth and an important part of regional coordinated development, effectively improve the allocation efficiency of various production factors, promote their technical efficiency, and play an important role in leading the high-quality economic development of the region and even the whole country. Based on the input-output data of relevant provinces from 2010 to 2020, this paper adopts DEA model and Malmquist index method to carry out static and dynamic evaluation on the technical efficiency level of the three city agglomerations. In addition, Tobit model is used to examine the influencing mechanism of the technological efficiency of each province and city in the three urban agglomerations by adopting five factors including government support, technological innovation ability, quality of laborers, wage status of employed personnel and informatization level, and put forward countermeasures and suggestions for further improving the technological efficiency of each urban agglomerations. 

Technical Efficiency and Its Influencing Factors of the Three Major Urban Agglomerations in Eastern China<br/>—Based on DEA-Tobit Model

Meta-regulation is a regulation model that retunes the ability of self-regulation, which can take full advantage of the information and resources possessed by the regulated, is more sensitive to the market situation, and can enhance the incentive of the regulated to comply with the rules. Therefore, it is suitable for the regulated that is complex and in a dynamic evolutionary state. The uncertainty of algorithmic risk breaks through the ability of the traditional regulation model, while the meta-regulation model is a reference paradigm. The meta-regulation of platform algorithms has the characteristics of reflexivity, and the procedural regulation required by it can be achieved in three aspects: authentication system, transparency and accountability. Meta-regulation of platform algorithms is not limited to regulating the management of the platform itself and external regulation by the government, but should also empower third-party organizations to play a role in establishing high standards of industry compliance and creating value through meta-regulation by taking advantage of their concentrated technical and professional resources. The relationship between public and private subjects that are interconnected and mutually supportive is the development trend of platform algorithm governance in the future.

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A study on the meta-regulatory model of Internet platforms in the view of algorithmic governance

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine the extent and quality of voluntary intellectual capital disclosures by information technology companies of China and India.Research Design/Methodology: The research method adopted for this study is content analysis. The research is limited to the intellectual capital information disclosed in companies’ annual report. The sample for this research is based on 20 information technology (IT) companies listed by market captalisation listed on Shenzhen or Shanghai stock exchange market, and the largest 20 companies listed on Indian stock market.Findings: Indian IT companies tends to perform better than Chinese IT companies in extent and quality of disclosures. The extent of disclosure of both countries is at a relatively high level. The most frequently reported disclosure category in India is external capital, while the least one is human capital. In China, external capital is the most frequently disclosed category, while the internal capital is the least one.Limitations/Implications: The sample size of the study is relatively small. Future research can expand on the sample size to get an overview of the intellectual capital disclosure, and conduct a longitudinal study to capture the trend of reporting practices.Originality: Previous studies of intellectual capital (IC) disclosure have covered little on the relationship between market capitalization and quality of disclosure and cross-country disclosure on IC. This research tends to extend the literature on intellectual capital disclosure.

Qianyu Wang

Papers

Intellectual capital disclosure by Chinese and Indian information technology companies

Technical Efficiency and Its Influencing Factors of the Three Major Urban Agglomerations in Eastern China<br/>—Based on DEA-Tobit Model

A study on the meta-regulatory model of Internet platforms in the view of algorithmic governance

Intellectual Capital Disclosure in Chinese and Indian Information Technology Companies: A Comparative Analysis