THE INTELLECTUAL CAPITAL (IC)

Phuoc D. Nguyen

Gupta and George (2016) supplement big data analytics capabilities (BDACs) with Garmaki, Boughzala, and Wamba’s (2016) Conceptual Model of BDA Capability Effect on Firm Performance and Wamba, Gunasekaran, Akter, Ren, Dubey, and Childe’s (2017) revised Research/Structural Model (2016); Gupta and George add soft/intangible BDACs including data-driven culture (decisions based on data rather than on intuitions) and intensity of organizational learning (ability to explore, store, share, and apply knowledge); they had also added other hard/tangible BDACs including data (internal, external, merging of internal and external) and basic resources (time, investment).

Nguyen (2017) proposes that “intellectual capital (IC) measurement can be used as a proxy for the performance of big data implementation in firms. In other words, it is reasonable to measure firm IC and then employ its measurement in assessing the impacts of big data on organizational performance… the factor of big data technology – human, technology, or capital employed – may have the most significant influence on firm business outcomes. Human capital efficiency and capital employed efficiency have a significant positive impact on firm profitability, which highlighted the prominent human role and financial capital in the impacts of big data technology.” (pp. 44-47). IC is an intangible BDAC, it includes human capital and the intensity of organizational learning. While IC is accumulating through the organization’s formation and development process, IC also includes corporate knowledge which is an outcome of big data analytics to create a knowledge management system. Based on the IC the company develops the learning organization to enhance continually its organizational knowledge to improve organizational operations, productivity, and performance. Additionally, IC is a component of organizational culture, organizational culture including fact-driven culture, fact-driven culture and the intensity of organizational learning play a decisive role in creating BDACs that reach organizational performance. The intensity of organizational learning and fact-driven culture create analytics competencies, analytics competencies are a component of IC. It is suggested that intangible BDACs play a key role in generating BDACs and that intangible BDACs are an outcome of organizational culture; soft/intangible BDACs are most important to create BDACs, and it leads to hard/tangible BDACs to reach BDACs.

Bartlett (2013) states “We want to systematically improve decision-making to seize competitive advantage. The business strategy needs to encourage fact-based decision making and create an environment where decision-makers can sort through the information and quickly obtain most of the reliable facts.” (p. 50). Organizational performance is an outcome of business strategy implementation with a fact-driven culture which leads to fact-based decision-making, decision makers make decisions from the results of big data analytics aiming to create IC and organizational knowledge.