National Intellectual Capital and Economic Performance: Empirical Evidence from Developing Countries

The aim of this study was to examine the relationship between national intellectual capital and economic performance in less developed countries. This study develops, measures, and tests a general model of the interrelationship among selected sub‐components of national intellectual capital and its impact on economic performance in 148 developing countries. The results indicate that national intellectual capital explains 70 per cent of the variance in economic performance in developing nations. Findings also indicate that national relational capital is a critical component in achieving economic performance. A variety of sub‐hypotheses were also tested and compared with those of the previous studies that focused on developed nations. The findings of this investigation contribute to the growing theory of national intellectual capital management by providing empirical evidence of the interrelationship among sub‐components and their impact on economic performance. Investigating national intellectual capital provides insights into the derivative of economic performance in less developed countries. This helps policy makers to rethink the economic development drivers of their countries and to formulate strategies that leverage unique sources of competitiveness. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.