Intellectual Capital and Firm Performance: A Review of Empirical Literature Based On VAIC™ Model

Abstract

The importance of intellectual capital (IC) has been a growing subject of discussion in academic, business and policy circles. Also, there has been quite a number of innovations in its concepts, measurements and valuations. One of such innovative measurement model is the Value added Intellectual Capital Coefficient (VAIC) proposed by Pulic (2000). Although the model has been criticised in literature as a result of the reliance of its measures on financial account figures. However, available evidence showed that it is one of the widely used model for measuring IC. This paper presents a survey of empirical IC - performance literature by focusing on studies that used Pulics VAIC as proxy to measure intellectual capital. Review and evaluation of the milestones in the developments and contributions to IC research are essential. It could foster an understanding of the context within which IC came into being as a vital organisation element in todays business world.  In summary, our findings revealed that the results of these studies mainly demonstrate that VAIC and its components influence performance variables positively, except in few noticeable situations.