Human capital and organizational performance: a study of Egyptian software companies

Purpose The paper seeks to test empirically a variety of hypotheses related to human capital and organizational performance within software companies in Egypt. Design/methodology/approach A valid research instrument was utilized to conduct a survey of 38 software companies who are representative of the 107 members of the Software Industry Chamber of Egypt. A correlation analysis and stepwise regression were conducted to ascertain the validity of the hypotheses. Findings Statistical support was found for six of the nine hypotheses tested. Research limitations/implications One of the limitations of this study is that human capital metrics were based on CEO self‐reported scores. Thus, the ability to generalize is limited to this context. Practical implications Of all the human capital metrics collected, the number of superstar developers seems to be the most critical variable in predicting export intensity. Superstar developers are those individuals whose productivity equals four times that of the other developers and twice that of the star developers. Originality/value This paper tests empirically the relationship between human capital and organization performance in the Egyptian software industry context and provides support for the recruitment and development of superstar developers.