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The impact of intellectual capital and knowledge flows on incremental and radical innovation: Empirical findings from a transition economy of Vietnam

Duy Quoc Nguyen (Department of Marketing and Operation Management, National Economics University, Hanoi, Vietnam)

Asia-Pacific Journal of Business Administration

ISSN: 1757-4323

Article publication date: 6 November 2018

Issue publication date: 6 November 2018

1045

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to develop a theoretical and empirical exploration of link between organization intellectual capital and knowledge flows with its incremental and radical innovation performance.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper adopts relevant literature of social capital and organizational learning to examine the impact of intellectual capital and knowledge flows on incremental and radical innovation based on surveying 95 firms. To test the research hypotheses, regression analysis is used.

Findings

Results of the study show that human capital and top-down knowledge flows significantly and positively influence both incremental and radical innovations. Social capital and bottom-up knowledge flows do not have any significant impact on incremental or/and radical innovation. Organizational capital has a positive impact on incremental innovation as expected.

Practical implications

The results offer several practical implications for business managers to harvest its knowledge bases resident in the firm’s different forms appropriately to make innovation successful. Particularly, knowledge resident in human capital and organizational capital is useful for making incremental innovation. Especially, new knowledge, new skills and new perspectives resident in human capital are crucial important for making radical innovation. Both incremental and radical innovations are positively influenced by dynamic managerial capabilities.

Originality/value

This study contributes to literature by providing new evidence linking organization intellectual capital and knowledge flows with its innovation performance. Especially, the missing link between top-down knowledge flows and radical innovation is empirically examined. Value of this study is that social capital and bottom-up knowledge flows are not universally beneficial for enhancing innovation and their impacts on innovation performance are context dependent and more sophisticated than it is recognized in the literature.

Keywords

Citation

Nguyen, D.Q. (2018), "The impact of intellectual capital and knowledge flows on incremental and radical innovation: Empirical findings from a transition economy of Vietnam", Asia-Pacific Journal of Business Administration, Vol. 10 No. 2/3, pp. 149-170. https://doi.org/10.1108/APJBA-03-2018-0044

Publisher

:

Emerald Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2018, Emerald Publishing Limited

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