The study of the communication of intellectual capital

Abstract

The study examines the communication of intellectual capital (CIC), defined as information disclosure of an organization's intangible assets through annual report and supplementary corporate disclosure (ARS). Three research gaps were identified: (1)There is insufficient understanding of the drivers behind corporate disclosure of IC in the ARS; (2) How IC is communicated for corporate reporting, particularly content and formats used; and (3) The relationship between CIC and organizational performance (OP) has not been established.The study of CIC draws from three theoretical perspectives. Stakeholder Theory ascribes management responsibility to report to multiple stakeholders and interests.Thus the need to explore factors underlying CIC (RO1). Legitimacy Theory highlights management's discretion in reporting based on perceived importance to stakeholders, which questions what and how CIC is reported (RO2A). Finally, Impression Management Theory suggests possible influence of CIC in enhancing perception of respectability and importance, thus the examination of the relationship between CIC and OP (RO2B).To gather empirical evidence, data was collected from surveys, 1-to-1 interviews and ARS. Two global surveys were conducted with 200 senior executives of banks responsible for ARS, supplemented with 1-to-1 interviews from a smaller subset of executives. To address RO1, factor analysis was applied on the survey results, supplemented with 1-to-1 interviews. For RO2A, ANOVA analysis and content analysis was undertaken on ARS, supplemented with 1-to-1 interviews. For RO2B, Negative Binomial Regression was used to investigate the relationship between CIC and OP.In RO1, four factors were found to drive organizations in CIC, namely compliance, management responsibility to stakeholders, corporate leadership and collective behavior. Stakeholder Theory applied in the context of CIC uncovered four main groups of stakeholders to focus -regulators, community-at-large, investors, stockbrokers and analysts, and peers. In RO2A, structural capital information (SCI) guidance and good advice. I am eternally grateful to him, as he has opened up a whole new world of academic research and publishing, building on my passion for research. I have made the right choice in choosing Wee Kim Wee School of Communications & Information (WKWSCI) at Nanyang Technological University for my Masters and Doctorate pursuits, as the school has built an amazing team of professors to learn from.