Intellectual capital of the cultural heritage ecosystems: A knowledge dynamics approach

Abstract

Cultural heritage ecosystems are complex systems composed of social communities with cultural traditions, historical places and monuments, legends and heroes, institutions and companies, technologies, and infrastructures, embedded in natural environments of different shapes and sizes. Their intellectual capital cannot be understood and measured by using the known financial-based metrics designed for companies’ reporting. Ecosystems have a higher level of complexity by comparison with that of organizations and require new dimensions for representing and interpreting their intellectual capital and knowledge management. The purpose of this chapter is to unlock the intellectual capital of the cultural heritage ecosystems by suggesting a knowledge dynamics approach and to show how this approach can be used in promoting tourism in ecosystems with great cultural heritage potential. The knowledge dynamics approach is based on the energy metaphor and the theory of knowledge fields. For a better understanding of this new approach, this chapter contains a case study about the famous historical region of Bucovina, a region situated in the northeastern part of Romania where there are UNESCO World Heritage monasteries.