Exploring the policy relevance of national intellectual capital information

Abstract

Purpose National intellectual capital (IC) measurement models produced by academics provide potentially valuable information for policy making. However, there is a lack of research explaining how policy makers actually deal with issues related to national IC. The purpose of this paper is to examine the phenomenon of national IC from the perspective of policy makers. The aim is to understand how they perceive the concept of national IC and how it manifests in the actual work processes they perform. Design/methodology/approach The empirical data comprise interviews from eight ministry officials representing six ministries in Finland. These ministries are expected to be the main potential users of national IC information. Findings The findings show that the policy makers are not familiar with the concept of national IC. However, the elements of national IC (e.g. competence level, national brand) are easily identified and highly valued. The information the policy makers have on the different elements of national IC is obtained from various sources and there is no specific national IC measurement model in use. Research limitations/implications The results of the study contribute to the research stream of measuring national IC by taking into account the information users’ perspective. This could help researchers in the further development and implementation of the models. Originality/value There appears to be a significant disconnection between the academics producing novel solutions to measure national IC and the practitioners dealing with national IC‐related development initiatives. This paper produces new knowledge for bridging that gap.

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