Linking knowledge management valuation to intellectual capital: A conceptual study

Abstract

Knowledge management (KM) and intellectual capital (IC) are two big research questions in nowadays management topics. In fact, the relation between these two subjects varies from analogy to complementarity. Defining these concepts remains for long years a controversy, because both topics imply different disciplines. And despite the multidisciplinary of the field, it is agreed that KM treats both knowledge as an object, and management as a set of tools and techniques. The association between these two aspects is the essence of KM. Whereas with the IC, the focus is much on the effect and value generated by the intellectual asset, which implies a notion of valuation and measurement. The relationship between concepts of IC and KM needs to be redefined in view of field progress. In our paper, we assume that “IC is suited to KM valuation and performance measurement”: a conceptual review of the literature within this work should give foundation to this hypothesis. Further foreseen analytical verification may empower it to be a basic rule on the design of future KM valuation indicators.