Intellectual capital and service quality within the mobile telecommunications sector of Egypt

Abstract

<jats:sec><jats:title content-type="abstract-subheading">Purpose</jats:title><jats:p>The purpose of this paper is to empirically investigate the relationship between intellectual capital (IC) (i.e. human capital, structural capital, relational capital) and service quality (SQ) within the Egyptian mobile telecommunications setting.</jats:p></jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title content-type="abstract-subheading">Design/methodology/approach</jats:title><jats:p>A valid research instrument was utilized to conduct a survey of 384 top- middle- and supervisory level managers from three Egyptian mobile telecommunications companies.</jats:p></jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title content-type="abstract-subheading">Findings</jats:title><jats:p>Hypotheses related to the relationship of human, structural and relational capital and their influence on SQ were tested. Results show that Egyptian mobile telecommunications companies have mostly emphasized the use of structural capital to boost their SQ.</jats:p></jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title content-type="abstract-subheading">Research limitations/implications</jats:title><jats:p>This is an empirical research applied in the Egyptian telecommunications setting. Its relationships need further investigation in other settings and countries. Also, the traditional limitations of a cross-sectional study apply with respect to the attribution of causality and the time lag effects.</jats:p></jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title content-type="abstract-subheading">Practical implications</jats:title><jats:p>The optimal procedure for the Egyptian mobile telecommunications companies is to focus their efforts on managing all three components of IC in order to improve their SQ and performance.</jats:p></jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title content-type="abstract-subheading">Originality/value</jats:title><jats:p>This is one of the very few researches to study the relationship between intellectual capital and service quality and the first to investigate these relationships in the Arab Region within the mobile telecommunications setting.</jats:p></jats:sec>

Intellectual capital on performance: a meta-analysis study enhancing a new perspective of the components

“…It demonstrates that IC is in continuous process of evolution, and the literature has neglected to address the essentials of its key topic: knowledge and its utilization for creating value in organizational contexts that are fundamentally socially constructed, institutionalized and collective (Kianto et al , 2018; Brown and Duguid, 2001; Spender, 1998). So, we propose to investigate Knowledge Capital as a dynamic component in future studies and to investigate its effects in different contextualities and measurement to have a clear separation between IC resources (human and structure capital) and IC in action (relational and knowledge capital) (Peñalba-Aguirrezabalaga et al , 2020; Abd-Elrahman et al , 2020; Kianto et al , 2018; Henseler, 2017; Mouritsen, 2006).…”

“…Other interpretation of these results shows that the IC components are generalized and may be distinct according to the level of analysis. In general, it means, IC or ICKM may contribute to FP, however, as some studies also pointed out its influences are indirect on performance (Hussink et al , 2017b; Smriti and Das, 2018) and are dependent on the firm context or trajectory (Peñalba-Aguirrezabalaga et al , 2020; Abd-Elrahman et al , 2020; Kianto et al , 2018; Henseler, 2017; Mouritsen, 2006).…”

“…Most of the empirical literature suggests that the IC dimensions improve organizational performance through their interactions and combinations (e.g. Abd-Elrahman et al , 2020; Alrowwad et al , 2020; Bontis et al , 2018; Andreeva and Garanina, 2016; Sharabati et al , 2010) and are concerned with confirming these performance effects primarily using a knowledge-based view. Collected evidence shows that IC indeed represents an important antecedent to firm-level productivity as well as IP (Sokolov and Zavyalova, 2021; Kengatharan, 2018).…”

“…KM has replaced monetary capital, land and material capital as the most important capital, especially in the competitive high-tech realm (Chen et al , 2004). Furthermore, in contrast to tangible resources, which tend to depreciate when they are used, KM grows when used and never depreciates (Abd-Elrahman et al , 2020; Sveiby, 1997, p. 23).…”

“…To implement KM, an IC portfolio must be cultivated to achieve a synergy of competent HC, knowledge-oriented culture, organizational infrastructure and favorable relationship with stakeholders (Grimaldi et al , 2012) who put pressure on innovativeness capacity that demand a strong absorptive knowledge capacity to FP (Singh et al , 2020). Additionally, the sharing and exchange of knowledge and experiences with stakeholders can bring about increased capacity, cost savings, new services and products (Abd-Elrahman et al , 2020). KM also creates platforms and processes for the creation, sharing and utilization of tacit knowledge in organizations, thereby benefiting the innovation process (Prajogo and Oke, 2016).…”