A multi method investigation into the costs and into the benefits of measuring intellectual capital assets

This study sets out to address the question of whether the costs and thebenefitsof measuring intellectual capital assets differ dependingon thedriver for that measure.Although pressure is growing onfirms to measure and report on theirintellectual capital assets no research hasyet been published thatquestions the costs associated with such actions. And although academicresearch haspurported to showlinks between the management ofintellectual capital assets and real business benefits the research carriedout thus far'hasnotfocussed specifically on the benefits of measuringintellectual capital assets. Although there are now a variety of intellectualcapital asset measurementframeworks there has beenno crosscomparison as to whichintellectual capital asset measures provide themost business insight or where the outcome of that measurement ismost effective.Using a multi method approach the thesis is tested in three phases; anextensiveliterature review covering intellectual capital, performancemeasurement and organisational effectiveness; a survey and contentanalysis to explore what and why companies measure; and structuredinterviewing of six companies to investigate the costs and the benefitsof measurement.The thesis is tested through the investigation of thirteen propositionswhich show that: firstly, there isadifference in the relative cost ofmeasuring intellectual capital assets given the measurement driver,whichis explainedby the frequency of measurement, the mode ofdatacollection and analysis, and whether the use of the measure is abyproduct of some other driver, secondly, that the insight provided by anintellectual capital asset measurediffers given the measurement driver,thirdly, that the measurement of intellectual capital assets is mosteffectivefor planning the future; andlastly, that particular measurementdriversare effective, to differing degrees, in financial,customer,operational, people andfutureorganisational performancedomains.