The hybrid intellectual capital valuation method

Abstract

This study aims to improve the existing problems of intellectual capital (IC) measurement methods including those with unclear and unspecific calculation details and the inability to valuate the influences between IC measures and between IC components, which is a fundamental characteristic of IC. To address the fundamental issues of past methods, this study integrates two multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) methods: the analytic network process (ANP) and the simple additive weighting (SAW) method, both of which provide specific and clear calculation procedures. ANP is adopted to manage the valuation of influences between IC elements, while SAW is used to solve incommensurable units of IC performance indicators and different concentrations on IC measures and components. Implementation of the method revealed a clear and systematic measurement procedure. The proposed method could consider the relationships among IC measures as well as among IC components and presented calculated results in the form of the weights of IC measurement compositions. Furthermore, the method maintained the crucial characteristics of IC measurement: the ability to standardise units of measure and the capability to valuate the performance of IC for the appropriate measure, component, and holism level.