Creating value from intellectual capital in portuguese banking institutions

Managing intellectual assets is an increasingly important part of running a successful business. Intellectual capital is increasingly identified as a key enabler of organisational value however it does not exist isolated. Intellectual resources are often internally generated, interrelated and interdependent, and their value is, therefore, context specific. The existing empirical evidence suggests that some sort of correlation exists between the ability to manage these assets and the creation of a competitive advantage. The focus on the ability of firms to create value provides a denominator for our work. The aim of this study is to examine the interrelationships and interactions among intellectual capital components, within the Portuguese banking context, and to identify the paths driving to a superior banking performance. Models are assessed using a PLS (Partial Least Squares) approach, a non-parametric statistical alternative, given the advantages of treating with complex models and requiring less stringent assumptions. This study supports the proposition that intellectual capital is the driver of organizational value created and nurtured through the effective interaction of the three dimensions of intellectual capital. Empirical findings from this study also support that an approach based on the intellectual capital of the firm gives us a holistic picture of the organizational value creation. Keywords Intellectual capital, Human capital, Structural capital, Relational capital, Value creation, Business performance, Structural Equation Models (SEM), Partial Least Squares (PLS).