Effect of intellectual capital on organizational performance in the Indonesian SOEs and subsidiaries: roles of open innovation and organizational inertia

Abstract

Purpose

This study aims to investigate the direct effect of intellectual capital on the organizational performance of Indonesian state-owned enterprises (SOEs) and their subsidiaries. Furthermore, it also examines whether the relationship is mediated by open innovation and moderated by organizational inertia.

Design/methodology/approach

This study is designed as quantitative research. A survey method is employed to collect data by distributing questionnaires to the upper-level managers of the SOEs and their subsidiaries. A total of 293 questionnaires were distributed to the respondents, and 97 responses were obtained for further analysis. The partial least square structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) is used to test the hypotheses. A mediation-moderation research framework is employed.

Findings

The results show that intellectual capital has a positive effect on organizational performance. Further results also demonstrate that open innovation mediates the intellectual capital–organizational performance relationship and organizational inertia moderates the intellectual capital–organizational performance relationship. Theoretically, the findings contribute to the resource-based view (RBV) and knowledge-based view (KBV) by providing empirical evidence of the importance of distinctive internal resources in achieving superior organizational performance. Practically, the findings provide strategic information for managers that they should properly manage intellectual capital, open innovation and organizational inertia because of their effects on organizational performance.

Originality/value

First, this study addresses the previous research gaps by confirming that intellectual capital has a positive effect on organizational performance in the research setting of an emerging market. Second, by using a mediation research framework, this study shows that open innovation mediates the relationship between intellectual capital and organizational performance. Third, by using a moderating research framework, this study also reveals that organizational inertia weakens the relationship between intellectual capital and organizational performance. Those associations are rarely researched.