Synergy between multidimensional intellectual capital and digital knowledge management: Uncovering innovation performance complexities

Abstract

This paper aims to deepen our understanding of the contingency and complex interrelations between multidimensional intellectual capital (IC), technology-based knowledge management (KM), and innovation outcomes in the rapidly changing business environment. More particularly, we investigate causal recipes for high innovation performance consisting of traditional IC components (human capital, structural capital, relational capital), the three more recently emerging IC dimensions (renewal capital, entrepreneurial capital, trust capital), and digital KM practices. This study adopts neo-configurational perspective and fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) to explore multiple conjunctural causations of innovation performance using survey data collected from 102 publicly listed enterprises in Taiwan. Although the four identified archetypes (causal recipes) indicate that all IC dimensions and digital KM are potential collaborators contributing to high innovation performance, they also emphasize the critical role of digital KM in leveraging relational and trust capital for superior innovation performance. Human, structural, entrepreneurial, and renewal capital seems to be a supporting chorus for open and collaborative innovations in the digital era.

Keywords:

Intellectual capital, Digital knowledge management, Innovation performance, Complexity, fsQCA