IC and welfare in the fifth stage of Intellectual Capital. Insights from the topic of sustainability

The thesis merges the topic of Intellectual Capital (IC) with some themes of welfare, more in details sustainability and its sub-theme female entrepreneurship. The “Fifth Stage of Intellectual Capital” is a recent research trend that sees the concept of “value” go beyond the boundaries of the firm to pursue “the greater good” for the stakeholders and the community. In this perspective, Financial, Environmental, and Social Sustainability and welfare are the key topics. The purpose of the first research (papers 1 and 2) is to investigate the relationship between IC and sustainability using practitioners’ perspectives and by developing an analysis of comments and practices published in 1,651 blog posts in one of the leading online sources of sustainability research. A total of 1,651 posts, with more than 1.5 million words, published by experts are analyzed using Leximancer and content analysis. The results reveal IC and sustainability to be complex topics under active discussion by practitioners, and several links to the IC literature are compared. The findings focus on the managerial practices applied by leading companies, that show IC and sustainability influence each other in answering a plurality of demands. The research identifies the need to study the managerial practices proposed by practitioners, rather than their company reports. The research recommends developing a trading zone for IC researchers and practitioners. It reflects on the role of new communication tools to connect IC and sustainability. The research concludes that the relationship between IC and sustainability could benefit from the fifth stage of IC research that considers the justifications of the worth of IC and sustainability practices. Practitioners require scholars to reduce the ambiguity between IC and its expected results. This would open the door to a potentially productive way of understanding IC and the complexity of economic, social, and environmental value. Researchers should change their research questions from, “What is IC worth to investors, customers, society, and the environment?” to “Is managing IC a worthwhile endeavor?” The second research (paper 3) concentrates on one topic, female entrepreneurship as a social sustainability issue. For several decades support for women’s entrepreneurship has been present on the political agenda internationally. The arguments vary, ranging from economic growth and new jobs to human resource utilization to justice and equality. Gender equality is a right recognized and promoted by the United Nations. The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development adopted by world leaders in 2015 embody a roadmap for progress that is sustainable and leaves no one behind. Achieving gender equality and women’s empowerment is integral to each of the 17 goals, ensuring the rights of women to get justice and inclusion, economies that work for all, and sustaining shared environment. Entrepreneurship is seen as a vital asset for the economic growth, and public entities should foster it by dedicating specific mentoring programs and funding. Women entrepreneurship is seen as a relevant asset too. Female entrepreneurs are more devoted to the welfare, equity, and care more about sustainable development. The study employs a mixed method approach by collecting data from a Regional program which took place in Friuli Venezia Giulia, Italy, during the years 2011-2012. The idea is to investigate the differences between men and women in terms of experience and complexity of the initiative and to understand the issues that prevent women to open their own business. Using a single case study approach, we investigated the role of relational capital,a vital element of the contemporary economy, and a critical asset for female startups. The purpose of the study is to contribute to the debate regarding issues affecting the opening of new companies as well as the link between relational capital and female enterprises.