Intellectual Capital and Performance in Croatian Academic Libraries: An Empirical Analysis

Abstract

The importance of intellectual capital in the knowledge economy has become crucial, as the competitiveness and successful performance of contemporary organisations depend on such resources. Numerous empirical studies support this, most of which originate from the for-profit sector. However, the importance of intellectual capital in the public and non-profit sectors is also widely acknowledged and, according to some authors, may be even greater than in the for-profit sector. This research contributes to the existing literature on intellectual capital in the public and non-profit sectors by examining intellectual capital in academic libraries. Although there are assumptions in the literature on the importance of intellectual capital to library performance, there remains a lack of empirical research confirming this claim. This study investigates intellectual capital in academic libraries in Croatia and its relationship with performance. Intellectual capital is categorized into three main components: human, structural, and relational capital. A questionnaire on intellectual capital was distributed to academic libraries in Croatia. To test the relationship between intellectual capital and performance, the survey results were combined with secondary data on library performance, assessed using performance indicators defined by the ISO 11620 standard. This standard follows the balanced scorecard approach and organizes the performance indicators into four measurement perspectives: resources, access and infrastructure (1), use (2), efficiency (3), and potentials and development (4). The compiled data were analysed using descriptive statistics and Pearson's correlation coefficient. Path analysis was then used to examine the strength of the relationships between intellectual capital components and library performance. The results indicate that structural capital is a determinant of library performance, reflected in a significant positive relationship with the Potentials and Development performance indicators, while human and relational capital revealed no significant effect on performance. This research contributes to a deeper understanding of intellectual capital in libraries through both theoretical and methodological contributions, providing empirical evidence of its relationship with performance.