Abstract Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore and to explain the influence of representative variables of human capital and structural capital on the creation of business value. Design/methodology/approach – An exploratory analysis was initially performed on the degree to which firms actually used human and structural capital indicators, through a survey sent out to Spanish firms with a staff of 25 employees or more. Subsequently, by means of an explanatory analysis, the relationship was studied between the use made of the aforementioned indicators and a set of variables selected as representative of value creation. The information on value creation was taken from the Sistema de Análisis de Balances Ibéricos (SABI‐AMADEUS) database. Moreover, in an attempt to corroborate the results of this explanatory analysis, a further independent variable was simultaneously introduced taken from the financial statements held on the same database and applied to the same sample of firms; known as the value added intellectual coefficient (VAIC), it analyses value creation efficiency. Findings – The explanatory analysis of multiple lineal correlations and regressions allows us to confirm the positive relation that exists between the use of human and structural capital indicators, and value creation measured by sales growth. Simultaneously, higher levels of the VAIC, in particular for the component that refers to the sum of the coefficient of human capital and structural capital, are also related to improvements in competitiveness reflected through an increase in sales figures. Research limitations/implications – Despite having identified a relation between intellectual capital and value creation, the study finds no evidence of a significant relationship between the use of human capital and structural capital indicators and dependent variables other than sales growth, such as return on assets (ROA) or productivity. The authors would have preferred to have obtained information from a larger number of firms, which would perhaps have contributed to finding new significant relations. This limitation suggests that further research is needed, such as carrying out large‐scale longitudinal studies using panel data analysis. Originality/value – This analysis has a dual perspective based on observations taken from a survey and economic‐financial analysis. It is a novel study in the Spanish context given that the analysis of aspects related to intellectual capital have on numerous occasions centred on large and/or quoted firms in that country, solely using information taken from secondary sources (databases).
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