Intellectual capital in high‐tech firms

Purpose – The literature shows several intellectual capital models. Nevertheless, there is little empirical evidence about the building blocks that form intellectual capital in practice. The purpose of this paper is to test the widespread categorization of human capital, structural capital, and relational capital with a survey applied to high‐technology firms from Spain. Design/methodology/approach – Factor analysis was conducted with a sample of 49 firms (larger than 50 employees). Findings – The results indeed demonstrate the existence of three main components of intellectual capital that, in general, fit the dominant structure proposed by other authors. Research limitations/implications – Before moving into an internationally accepted system for classification and measurement of intellectual capital, future research should seek a geographical and industrial agreement about the main components of this construct. In that direction, our empirical evidence provides only the experience of Spanish high‐tech firms; this experience could be different in other countries or industries. Practical implications – In this paper, managers interested in the field can find a useful guidance for structuring an intellectual capital balance sheet, taking the three proposed components as main dimensions, and the items of the survey as a measurement tool for analyzing the intellectual strengths and weaknesses of their firms. Originality/value – Academics can also benefit from this research, taking it as a basis for replication studies about intellectual capital in other countries and/or industries. This article presents one of the first empirical tests of the theoretically accepted components of intellectual capital.