Human resources – strength and weakness in protection of intellectual capital

Abstract

Purpose – Human resources in knowledge intensive industries create the basis for continuing innovation and subsequent firm performance. At the same time, they pose risks for the competitiveness of the firm: unwanted leaking of knowledge and intellectual capital to outsiders exposes firm-critical knowledge, and knowledge leaving with a departing key employee may jeopardise the firm’s projects. The purpose of this paper is to examine how human resource management can serve as a protection mechanism to diminish knowledge leaking and leaving via employees. Design/methodology/approach – The authors approach these issues through a case study utilising interview data from 22 interviews within two large research and development intensive firms. Findings – Human resources could be seen both as a strength and weakness of a firm with respect to knowledge protection. The findings indicate that there are numerous practices related to commitment, trust, motivation, and sense of responsibility available to deploy to strengthen loyalty and to improve preservation of intellectual capital. Originality/value – While human resources management aspects have been widely discussed with regard job profitability and efficiency in generating intellectual capital, their connection to knowledge protection has often been overlooked. This study aims to contribute to this area.

Intellectual capital and firm performance in the global agribusiness industry

“…As Becker (1964) points out, expenditures on employees such as training or education are investments in capital, however they "produce human, not physical or financial, capital because you cannot separate a person from his or her knowledge, skills, health, or values the way it is possible to move financial and physical assets while the owner stays put". This implies that the departure of key employees may result in a loss of corporate intellectual ability and knowledge leakages, thus posing risks for the competitiveness of the firm (Olander et al, 2015).…”

Knowledge-based strategies and sustainability: a framework and a case study application

“…Martínez-Torres (2014) proposed a procedure for identifying the intangible assets that generate value to knowledge-intensive organizations. Olander et al (2015) studied how human resources create the basis for continuing innovation and subsequent firm performance in knowledge intensive industries. Other papers investigated the relation between intellectual capital (IC) and firm value also from the strategic point of view (Baiburina and Golovko, 2008; Huang and Wang, 2008).…”

Value creation and sustainability in knowledge-based strategies

“…Martínez-Torres (2014) proposed a procedure for identifying the intangible assets that generate value to knowledge-intensive organizations. Olander et al (2015) studied how human resources create the basis for continuing innovation and subsequent firm performance in knowledge-intensive industries. Massingham and Tam (2015) examined the relationship between HC and value creation and employee reward.…”

“…Furthermore, the paper gives important insights in the field concerning the knowledge-based firm profile and connection to strategy and performances (Baiburina and Golovko, 2008;Huang and Wang, 2008;Martínez-Torres, 2014;Massingham and Tam, 2015;Olander et al, 2015;Shakina and Barajas, 2015).…”