Documenti di Didattica
Documenti di Professioni
Documenti di Cultura
11-15
TI Journals
ISSN:
2306-7276
Akram Farhadi
Master of Public Administration - Allameh Tabatabai University, Iran.
Ahmad Mansouri
Bukan Payame Noor University Faculty Member, Iran.
*Corresponding author: paryaghafory@yahoo.com
Keywords
Abstract
Intellectual capital
Human capital
Structural capital
Relational capital
Organizational agility
Passing agricultural and industrial era and moving toward information era has caused that markets witness
wider and more varied services and products and increasing competition has formed. Such changing
environment caused emergence of novel concepts such as organizational agility concept. In this competitive
space, acquiring knowledge is turned to an important motive for development and growth of organizations so
that they promote their competitive situation. Intellectual capital is one of major organizational capabilities
which can considerably help organizations in knowledge creation and sharing, and developing competitive
advantage compared to other organizations. Meanwhile, human resource empowerment is one of the most
effective ways of achieving competitive advantage. Current paper attempts to investigate relationship between
intellectual capital and organizational agility in Karafarin Insurance Co. it is of survey type and data were
collected using questionnaire, and 187 people were selected as sample using simple random sampling. In order
to answer the research hypotheses, confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and structural equations modeling
(SEM) using SMARTPLS software were utilized. Research findings suggest significant relationship between
research variables. That is, there is positive significant relationship between human capital, structural capital
and relational capital in one hand, and organizational agility on the other hand.
Introduction
Today acquiring knowledge is an important motivation for development and growth of organizations so that they can improve their competitive
situation. Traditionally a company is placed in as competitive situation when it is able to produce products similar to its competitors in a lower
cost. However, in today knowledge based economy, intellectual capital constitutes the main element in this equation. Thus, intellectual capital
is recognized as a source of competitive advantages which increases the companys profit.
Considering economic changes which are occurring rapidly in today world, current paper attempts to investigate usefulness of intellectual
capital (including human capital, structural capital, and relational capital) in organizational agility and responding to the changes and how
empowered human resource which necessary competency can be effective in this regards.
The main purpose of current paper is describing necessary role of intellectual capital through investigating intellectual capital and
organizational agility relationship in Karafarin Insurance Co., and then ranking aspects of intellectual capital (human capital, structural capital
and relational capital), and determining influence of each aspect on organizational agility.
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International Journal of Economy, Management and Social Sciences Vol(3), No (12), December, 2014.
Concept
Definition
Intellectual Capital
Pabls (2003)
Intellectual Capital
Intellectual capital is difference between market value and book value of the
company. Intellectual capital is knowledge based resource which plays role in
gaining sustainable competitive advantage.
Moritson et a. (2004)
Intellectual Capital
Intellectual capital mobilizes cases such as staff, customers, IT, management and
knowledge.
Considering newly emergence of organizational agility paradigm, various definitions have been proposed by the authors, some of which are
mentioned below.
Ability to act in a competitive environment resulting from continuous changes and rapid reaction to market changes and creating
value for products and services based on customer satisfaction (Qin and Nembhard, 2010).
In operational terms, agility is a combination of several companies, each with their own skills and competencies which have joined
operational cooperation. It enables cooperative companies (with the common profession) to adopt and respond to changes according
to customer needs.
Employee Empowerment
Since human resource is the most valuable production factor and the main capital and source of competitive advantage and creator of basic
capabilities in every organization, one of the most effective ways to achieve competitive advantage in current conditions is making employees
more efficient in the organizations. In today competitive world, one of the major tools for creating change and survival of the organization and
achieving respective goals and missions is human element. The fact is that if creative, knowledge, opportunist, and analysts people are not
utilized in the organizations, many opportunities and situations would be lost.
Employee empowerment includes a collection of systems, approaches, and measures which are used through development of people capability
and competency for improving and increasing productivity, excellence, and prospering the organization and human resources considering
organizational goals (Carter, 2001).
Human capital
Accountability
Competency
Structural
capital
Flexibility
Intellectual
capital
Relational
capital
Organizat
ional
agility
Quickness
13
Relationship between Intellectual Capital and Organizational Agility with Mediatory Role of Employee Empowering in Service Sector (Case Study: Karafar...
International Journal of Economy, Management and Social Sciences Vol(3), No (12), December, 2014.
Intellectual capital
Education, skills, experiences, business knowledge, creativity, employee satisfaction (Campbell and Rahmatn, 2010)
Training, teamwork, developing and investing in innovation, talent preservation policy (Maria-luminita Gogan, 2014)
Skills, attitudes of employees, knowledge capital level, attitude and mental agility of employees and their capacity for
rapid decision making, problem solving and good interpersonal relationships (luminita -Maria-Gogan, 2013)
Staff professional knowledge, leadership abilities, lack of risk-taking, problem-solving ability, aptitude, attitude
(Bontis, 2002; Malone and Edvinsson, 1997)
Structural capital
Hardware, software, database, structure, patent, trademark, organizational charts, organizational strategies Malone
(1997)
Customer satisfaction, customer relations, financial relations, branding, distribution channels, partners, reputation of
company (Campbell and Rahmatn, 2010; Striukova et al., 2008)
Human
capital
Accountability
Appropriate hardware and software technologies
Hardware, software,
database
Competency
Cost effectiveness
Structural
capital
Intellectual
capital
Organizational
agility
Change management
Leadership & management
style
Flexibility
Organization image
Customer loyalty
Relational
capital
Quickness
New ideas & customer desire to
continue relationship with
company customer
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International Journal of Economy, Management and Social Sciences Vol(3), No (12), December, 2014.
Research Purpose
The main purpose of study is investigating relationship between intellectual capital and organizational agility in Karafarin Insurance Co. also,
the way of relationship between intellectual capital aspects and organizational agility is determined and ranked. It is also studied to what extent
changes in organizational agility result from intellectual capital changes.
Research Hypotheses
There is relationship between intellectual capital and organizational agility in Karafarin Insurance Co.
There is positive significant relationship between human capital and organizational agility in Karafarin Insurance Co.
There is positive significant relationship between structural capital and organizational agility in Karafarin Insurance Co.
There is positive significant relationship between relational (customer) capital and organizational agility in Karafarin Insurance Co.
Intellectual capital aspects can predict organizational agility.
Methodology
In this research, standard questionnaire was used in order to answer research questions and describe conceptual model. In order to determine
the reliability, Cronbach's alpha was used. To analyze the data, confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modeling using software
SMARTPLS is used.
Relational capital
Human capital
Structural capital
Organizational agility
0. 712
0. 332
0. 355
0. 491
0. 506
0. 859
0. 806
3. 604
0. 759
0. 526
0. 517
0. 576
0. 844
0. 755
3. 202
0. 820
0. 461
0. 673
0. 892
0. 839
4. 211
0. 879
0. 772
0. 884
0. 852
3. 209
Table 4. Path coefficients (Beta), t statistics, coefficient of determination, and research hypothesis result
Impact
Coefficient of
Research Hypothesis
t statistics
Sig.
Impact type
factor ()
determination
Intellectual capital -> organizational agility
0. 614
7. 246
0. 377
0. 000
+
Human Capital -> Organizational Agility
0. 315
3. 036
0. 000
+
Structural Capital -> Organizational Agility
0. 181
1. 698
0. 404
0. 09
+
Relational capital -> Organizational Agility
0. 322
3. 589
0. 000
+
Result
Supported
Supported
Rejected
Supported
Coefficient of determination is 0.404, thus all three variables of human capital, structural capital, and relational capital describe 40.4 percent of
organizational agility variable changes. Considering path coefficient it can be said that the highest relationship is observed between
organizational agility and relational capital (there is larger Beta coefficient) and lowest relationship is between organizational agility and
structural capital.
15
Relationship between Intellectual Capital and Organizational Agility with Mediatory Role of Employee Empowering in Service Sector (Case Study: Karafar...
International Journal of Economy, Management and Social Sciences Vol(3), No (12), December, 2014.
having perfect information about them, and they could react quicker to market changes and their customer demands. Thus, acquiring this
information helps companies to be more accountable, flexible, and agile than their competitors in a short timer by introducing new products or
performing tasks and responsibilities quickly.
Among other aspects of intellectual capital, human capital as the second most influential aspect on organizational agility represents clear role of
human capital in organizational agility.
The third influential aspect on agility of the insurance company under study is structural capital. It is clear that beside appropriate and competent
labor force, presence of suitable infrastructures in insurance companies, both in software and hardware aspects, considerably influences
organizational agility.
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