Measure human capital because people really matter: development and validation of human capital scale (HuCapS)

Purpose Notwithstanding the findings of several published articles on human capital, there is scarcity of a comprehensive instrument to measure it. In this direction, the objective of present research is to develop a valid and reliable scale to assess human capital. Design/methodology/approach This research was divided into two parts. Study 1 focused on literature review of human capital measures, development of items and exploring the factor structure of human capital construct on a sample of 184 employees. Study 2 was based on the survey of 212 employees, and reliability assessment and confirmatory factor analysis was performed to validate the factor structure of human capital construct. Findings The findings can be summarized in two ways. Study 1 present that human capital scale is multidimensional consisting of employee capability, leadership and motivation, employee satisfaction and creativity. The findings of study 2 confirms the validity and reliability of three factor structure of human capital construct consisting of 18 items in total. Practical implications The study provides a multidimensional psychometric instrument which can help in measuring the human capital of the organization from the perspective of capabilities, satisfaction and creativity and leadership and motivation. Moreover, it can serve as an aid to human resource (HR) and human resource development (HRD) professionals for human capital assessment in the organizations. Originality/value This study provides a measure to assess human capital in Indian manufacturing sector organizations that makes a novel contribution to the area.