Proceedings of the 12th European Conference on Knowledge ...

Marta Christina Suciu et al
Source: “Researching for Intellectual Capital Management in New Public Sector Organisations for
Effectiveness, Efficiency, and Reputation”, Abeysekera, I., Jebeile, S., Kamuruddin, K. (2010) [online],
http://www.afaanz.org/openconf/2010/modules/request.php?module=oc_program&action=view.php&i
d=41
The fact that all this research has been done on <strong>the</strong> private sector has had as a result a distinct focus
on <strong>the</strong> needs <strong>of</strong> private companies. However, as noted by Cinca et al (2003), <strong>the</strong> public sector has its
own set <strong>of</strong> needs and rules and <strong>the</strong> private sector concept <strong>of</strong> intellectual capital, while useful, is
insufficient due to <strong>the</strong> fact that <strong>the</strong> public sector concept involves more human and organizational
capital.
The methods for evaluating human capital have been grouped (Sveiby, 2000) into four distinct
categories: market capitalization, return on assets, direct intellectual capital methods, scorecard
methods. Of all <strong>the</strong>se, <strong>the</strong> first three focus on <strong>the</strong> financial aspects <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> entity, but, for a public
enterprise, finance, while important, must compete with o<strong>the</strong>r objectives which can be even more
important such as responsiveness for a medical emergency from <strong>the</strong> service provider. A scorecard
method would prove adequate under <strong>the</strong>se circumstances as it allows <strong>the</strong> flexibility required by <strong>the</strong>
multiple concurrent objectives that need to be satisfied at <strong>the</strong> same time by <strong>the</strong> different public
entities.
The scorecard method is not without its faults though. In order for <strong>the</strong> method to be <strong>of</strong> use it needs to
have a solid foundation and must be fully supported by <strong>the</strong> authorities. However, <strong>the</strong>se same
authorities have shown <strong>the</strong>mselves to be very reluctant in <strong>the</strong> subject matter and so <strong>the</strong> accounting
systems have been rigid. At <strong>the</strong> moment <strong>the</strong> Romanian accounting system focuses on <strong>the</strong> historical
costs and reported transactions but <strong>the</strong>y focus very little on value creation and so human capital,
organizational and structural capital investments are instead treated as expenses and <strong>the</strong>re still exists
a strong focus on <strong>the</strong> physical assets possessed by an organization. As a result <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> rise <strong>of</strong>
information technology, globalization, stressing innovation as a generator <strong>of</strong> competitive advantage
<strong>the</strong>re is a shift in perspective from <strong>the</strong> tangible to <strong>the</strong> intangible (More and Craig, 2008) but <strong>the</strong>
transformation is slow.
3. Empirical study and research methodology
For <strong>the</strong> purposes <strong>of</strong> this study an initial methodology was built based on <strong>the</strong> supposition that <strong>the</strong>re
already is some degree <strong>of</strong> familiarity with <strong>the</strong> topic <strong>of</strong> intellectual capital in public enterprises. Based
on this assumption a questionnaire was designed and structured around <strong>the</strong> three dimensions <strong>of</strong>
intellectual capital: human, relational and organizational components, having <strong>the</strong> purpose to
determine <strong>the</strong> current state <strong>of</strong> IC management in public enterprises.
The items were adapted from specific literature where possible, while new items were developed
according to <strong>the</strong> defined objectives <strong>of</strong> our study. The questionnaire was aimed at 150 employees
working in <strong>the</strong> Romanian public sector. However, <strong>the</strong> questionnaire was firstly tested and revised. But
after <strong>the</strong> responses were centralized, having a retrieval rate <strong>of</strong> 100%, <strong>the</strong> results were deemed
irrelevant. The main reasons were inconsistencies within <strong>the</strong> same questionnaire or downright
contradictions with <strong>the</strong> obvious practices.
As a result <strong>the</strong> methodology had to be adapted and was refocused on obtaining qualitative data
through <strong>the</strong> use <strong>of</strong> in-depth interviews with several employees that worked in <strong>the</strong> equivalent <strong>of</strong> middle
management in public organizations. These interviews followed <strong>the</strong> same basic premise and structure
<strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> questionnaire however <strong>the</strong>y allowed for significantly more room personal opinions, and
following an interview protocol.
The first section referred to identification, but in order to ensure anonymity only age and gender were
recorded on <strong>the</strong> <strong>of</strong>ficial documents registered in <strong>the</strong> research.
In <strong>the</strong> second section, <strong>the</strong>re were questions where respondents were asked to rank on a Likert scale,
with answers from 1 to 5 where 1 means “strong disagreement” and 5 “strong agreement”, a series <strong>of</strong>
statements concerning <strong>the</strong> human capital in <strong>the</strong>ir institution, along with supplying additional
argumentation for <strong>the</strong>ir choice. Such items referred to employees’ qualifications, level <strong>of</strong> training
courses <strong>of</strong>fered by <strong>the</strong> organization and <strong>the</strong>ir availability, and degree <strong>of</strong> correlation with <strong>the</strong>
employees’ needs. A separate part <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> regarding pr<strong>of</strong>essional development opportunities and <strong>the</strong>
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