The relationship between intellectual capital and big data: a review
ISSN: 2049-372X
Article publication date: 14 August 2018
Issue publication date: 26 September 2018
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to give an integrated framework for analysing the main opportunities and threats related to the exploitation of Big Data (BD) technologies within intellectual capital (IC) management.
Design/methodology/approach
By means of a structured literature review (SLR) of the extant literature on BD and IC, the study identified distinctive opportunities and challenges of BD technologies and related them to the traditional dimensions of IC.
Findings
The advent of BD has not radically changed the risks and opportunities of IC management already highlighted in previous literature. However, it has significantly amplified their magnitude and the speed with which they manifest themselves. Thus, a revision of the traditional managerial solutions needed to face them is required.
Research limitations/implications
The developed framework can contribute to academic discourse on BD and IC as a starting point to understanding how BD can be turned into intangible assets from a value creation perspective.
Practical implications
The framework can also represent a useful decision-making tool for practitioners in identifying and evaluating the main opportunities and threats of an investment in BD technologies for IC management.
Originality/value
The paper responds to the call for more research on the integration of BD discourse in the fourth stage of IC research. It intends to improve this understanding of how BD technologies can be exploited to create value from an IC perspective, focussing not only on the potential of BD for creating value but also on the challenges that it poses to organizations.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
The authors are grateful to the guest editor and the two anonymous reviewers for their thoughtful comments and suggestions. They further greatly appreciate the comments of the participants at the 13th EIASM Workshop on Intangibles and Intellectual Capital.
Citation
De Santis, F. and Presti, C. (2018), "The relationship between intellectual capital and big data: a review", Meditari Accountancy Research, Vol. 26 No. 3, pp. 361-380. https://doi.org/10.1108/MEDAR-10-2017-0222
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2018, Emerald Publishing Limited