The intellectual capital of higher education institutions Operationalizing measurement through a strategic prospective lens

摘要

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to present an innovative operational proposal for measuring the intellectual capital (IC) of higher education institutions (HEIs) through a strategic prospective lens of analysis. Design/methodology/approach After providing a literature review on the methods for measuring IC that focuses on the organisational IC of HEIs, four case studies applied to Portuguese HEIs are presented, using a matrix of cross-referenced impacts - multiplications applied to a classification (MICMAC) approach. Findings The empirical findings reveal how human capital, structural capital and relational capital make up the core components and provide a fairly diversified list of the measurement indicators for the operational evaluation of the IC of HEIs. Originality/value Through an innovative vision, the present study reconciles and systematically structures the methods already proposed by other authors before presenting an innovative operational approach and an alternative to the already existing methods. In addition, the structure of this proposal itself enables HEIs to choose from among the various indicators proposed for IC, correspondingly those that best align with the type of institution under evaluation.