Intellectual capital and firm performance: Evidence from high-sensitivity industries in Vietnam
Main Article Content
Abstract
Purpose – This paper explores the relationships among intellectual capital, its components, and firm performance in Vietnam’s high-sensitivity sectors, considering the lack of component-based research in emerging countries.
Design/methodology/approach – The analysis employs an unbalanced panel based on 1,682 firm-year observations of 111 firms quoted on the stock exchanges of Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi from four high-sensitivity sectors over 2000–2024. Intellectual capital is estimated by Value-Added Intellectual Coefficient (VAIC) and the efficiencies of its components – human, structural, and capital employed, while the proxy of firm performance is Return on Assets (ROA). A two-step system GMM estimation is used to tackle problems of performance persistence, firm-specific effects, and endogeneity.
Findings – There is a positive relation between aggregate intellectual capital and performance, which confirms the aggregate hypothesis. In the joint component framework, structural capital efficiency and capital employed efficiency are positively associated with performance and confirm their respective hypotheses. Human capital efficiency is found to be negative, which means that the positive hypothesized relationship is not confirmed. No second-order serial correlation was found, and instrumental variables were validated.
Originality/value – This paper offers component-based empirical findings for high-sensitivity industries in an understudied transition country. The dynamic approach distinguishes the impact of organizational systems, human capital, and capital usage on performance. Future research may include relational and innovation-based measurements.
Practical implications – Managers have to match the development of knowledge management systems and processes with workforce training and productive use of capital. Government authorities should complement skills enhancement with improving digital infrastructure and innovations.
Social implications – An effective transformation of knowledge and capital resources into performance may enhance productivity and competitiveness of knowledge-based industries in Vietnam.
Keywords
Intellectual Capital; Firm Performance; Vietnam
Article Details
Field of Economic (JEL Codes)
C33 - Panel Data Models • Spatio-temporal Models - Multiple or Simultaneous Equation Models • Multiple Variables, M10 - General - Business Administration, O34 - Intellectual Property and Intellectual Capital - Innovation • Research and Development • Technological Change • Intellectual Property Rights
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