Exploring the mediating role of dynamic capabilities in the relationship between intellectual capital and performance of information and communications technology firms

Abstract

Recent studies suggest a potential relationship between intellectual capital dimensions and dynamic capabilities in achieving superior performance. However, these studies have made little effort to develop a framework for understanding this relationship, which is unsettling for managers. To examine this potential, this paper proposes and tests a conceptual model to explain how three types of dynamic capabilities—learning, integration, and reconfiguration capability—mediate the impact of intellectual capital dimensions, including human, social, and organizational capital, on firm performance. This study, using a sample of 350 Vietnamese firms in the information and communications technology sector, found that dynamic capabilities play a mediating role in the relationship between intellectual capital dimensions and firm performance. Among dynamic capabilities, learning capability has the most significant mediating effect. Furthermore, the important roles of human, social, and organizational capital are addressed due to their direct effects on performance based on resource-based view theory, as well as their indirect effect via the mediation of dynamic capabilities.