Intellectual capital before and during COVID-19 in the hotel industry: the moderating role of tangible assets

Abstract

PurposeThe study aims to assess the relative impact of intellectual capital (IC) as opposed to tangible assets on profitability and employee performance in hotels in Serbia before and during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic.Design/methodology/approachThe current study was undertaken in 2019, the year before COVID-19, and 2020, the year of COVID-19's major impact. This study utilizes the Value-Added Intellectual Coefficient (VAIC) as a measure of efficient use of IC. Financial data were collected from 163 hotels in Serbia. Structural equation modeling (SEM) was used to test the proposed hypotheses.FindingsThe results revealed that IC was a relevant factor for both profitability and employee performance before and during the COVID-19. However, the study reveals a negative moderating effect of tangible capital efficiency (TCE), meaning that with the increase of TCE, the relationship between IC and performance becomes weaker.Research limitations/implicationsThe main limitation of the study is rooted in VAIC's ability to fully incorporate all elements of IC, leaving the relational capital out.Practical implicationsTo achieve better performance, hotel management should direct resources more towards IC and less toward tangible assets, which implies doing more with less.Originality/valueThe results indicate the importance of IC in a period of crisis for the industry and economy that are not recognized as knowledge intensive. To the best of the authors' knowledge, no other study has attempted to assess the relative contribution of tangible assets and IC before and during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Technological capabilities and global value chains: insights from Spanish SMEs in the hotel industry

“…Although, traditionally, research has associated tourism activities to a low level of staff training and a limited presence of graduates (Hjalager, 2002), the importance of staff training for tourism firm competitiveness has been increasingly acknowledged in studies carried out in recent decades (Ognjanovic et al, 2023;Yam et al, 2004). Staff training could affect the absorptive capacity of tourism organisations (Thomas and Wood, 2015), increase the efficiency of managing intellectual capital (Ognjanovic et al, 2023) and influence innovation (Ottenbacher and Gnoth, 2005). Furthermore, empirical analyses have observed that trained employees improve innovation and profits (Marco-Lajara et al, 2018).…”

Modeling intellectual capital-based intrapreneurial ability of working professionals through servant leadership and self-efficacy

“…Challenges brought forth by the pandemic aggravated the need of promoting ICIA (Mubarik et al. , 2022; Ognjanovic et al. , 2023).…”

“…Through ICIA organizations leverage their value even in testing times like the COVID-19 pandemic. Challenges brought forth by the pandemic aggravated the need of promoting ICIA (Mubarik et al, 2022;Ognjanovic et al, 2023).…”

“…, 2018; Serenko and Bontis, 2017) and performance (Mubarik et al. , 2022; Ognjanovic et al. , 2023).…”

“…Organizations recognize IC as a "brainpower" influencing innovation (Pedro et al, 2022), thereby continually leveraging their value (Asiaei et al, 2018;Serenko and Bontis, 2017) and performance (Mubarik et al, 2022;Ognjanovic et al, 2023). Survival in a digitalized era marked with the unprecedented COVID crisis requires organizations to convert an environmental constraint into a valuable resource.…”