Intellectual capital and technological dynamic capability: evidence from Chinese enterprises

Purpose As the carrier of knowledge, intellectual capital plays a crucial role in technology capability. However, most of the previous studies focus on technological capability from a static perspective, rather than take dynamic technology capability into consideration. Based on this research gap, the purpose of this paper is to investigate the effects of intellectual capital and its sub-dimensions on dynamic technology capability, measuring by the factor scores of five technological input and output variables. Design/methodology/approach The authors combine the system dynamic method and empirical study to guarantee the internal and external validity. Specifically, the authors design the system dynamic model and simulation to analyze the system mechanism of intellectual capital and its sub-dimensions on dynamic technology capabilities from four cause and effect feedback loops. Then, the authors propose eight hypotheses based on this system dynamic model. In the empirical test phase, the authors employed a panel data set pertaining to Chinese manufacturing firms from 2007 to 2017, and adopted the fixed effect panel model according to Hausman test. Findings The authors find that intellectual capital efficiency (ICE) and its sub-dimensions (i.e. human capital efficiency, organizational capital efficiency and capital employed efficiency (CEE) have significantly positive impacts on dynamic technology capability. The results also show that the positive effects of ICE and OC on dynamic technology capability would be strengthened in state-owned enterprises compared with non-state-owned enterprises, while this moderation effect is weakened on the relationship between CEE and dynamic technology capability. Originality/value In this study, the authors first introduce the system dynamic method to explore the relationship of intellectual capital and dynamic technology capability, which is a valuable trial on combining system science and empirical study. Additionally, the authors continue to expand the dynamic technology capability from the intellectual capital perspective, and also find the moderating effect from the ownership aspect. It is beneficial to the theoretical development of intellectual capital and dynamic technology capability. Furthermore, the authors provide significant inspirations and implications for enterprise’s managers.