Jamal A. Nazari

Extended VAIC model: measuring intellectual capital components

Purpose – In the intellectual capital (IC) literature, only a few studies have analyzed the relationships among the components of IC and organizational success. This study sets out to extend the current models to provide further insight into the role of IC in organizational performance.Design/methodology/approach – The study provides a theoretical discussion designed to push the measurement of IC into a more rigorous and comprehensive domain.Findings – As this is a theoretical paper, several hypotheses are presented for testing in the future.Practical implications – Recognizing the most influential elements of IC on organizational performance would help organizations to understand better the organizational capabilities they possess. In addition, the suggested extension would enable researchers to use archival resources to do cross‐company comparisons.Originality/value – The suggested extension to the VAIC model builds on several IC models that have not been well‐connected in the literature previously.

Organizational culture, climate and IC: an interaction analysis

Purpose – This study aims to empirically investigate the role of organizational culture and climate in supporting intellectual capital (IC) management systems. Specifically, it seeks to investigate the relationship between organizational characteristics (culture and climate) and IC management systems in the Middle East (Iran and Lebanon) and Canada.Design/methodology/approach – Data were gathered via a survey instrument and statistical analysis was used to test for significance between dependent and independent variables. Then a two‐stage hierarchical multiple regression was used to test for the nature and effects of country of origin as a moderating variable.Findings – The findings suggest that both culture and climate play significant roles in developing management systems for IC. In addition, for country, when organizational climate improves, Middle Eastern respondents perceived an even greater improvement in IC management systems compared to their Canadian counterparts.Originality/value – There is lim...

Exploring the relationship between the knowledge creation process and intellectual capital in the pharmaceutical industry

Purpose – This paper aims to explore the relationship between knowledge creation and intellectual capital (IC) through an empirical study in the pharmaceutical industry. In the current economy, knowledge and IC are considered as the most important organizational assets and are the key resources in gaining competitive advantage. Design/methodology/approach – This paper adopts the socialization, externalization, combination and internalization (SECI) model to examine the format of knowledge creation processes (KCP) and uses a model to demonstrate the relationship between KCP and IC and its components in the pharmaceutical industry. A valid instrument was adopted to collect the required data on KCP and and IC dimensions. Structural equation modeling was used to assess the measurement model and to test the research hypotheses using the data collected from 470 completed questionnaires. Findings – The results supported the research model and revealed that KCP has significant influence on the accumulation of hum...

TOPSIS approach to prioritize critical success factors of TQM

Purpose – The pharmaceutical industry has a critical impact on health promotion. It is essential to identify and prioritize the critical success factors (CSFs) within this industry to ensure successful implementation of total quality management (TQM). Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to identify and prioritize CSFs that affect TQM successful implementation in the pharmaceutical industry. Design/methodology/approach – Based on a thorough review of the literature and building on the earlier studies, a valid questionnaire was developed and sent to 320 managers in pharmaceutical sector. In total, 210 completed questionnaires were returned. The technique for order of preference by similarity to ideal solution (TOPSIS) was used to rank and prioritize CSFs. Findings – Results of the data analyses showed that information and analysis, management commitment, relationship with suppliers, and customer focus are the top four CSFs for the successful implementation of TQM in the pharmaceutical sector. Originalit...

Organizational characteristics fostering intellectual capital in Canada and the Middle East

Purpose – This study sets out to examine how organizational characteristics are related to intellectual capital and how these variables are different between Canadian and Middle East contexts.Design/methodology/approach – A questionnaire was developed to measure the four major study constructs, i.e. intellectual capital, culture, climate, and organizational traits. Each of these constructs was represented by a number of subscales that were subjected to ANOVA and correlations to test the hypotheses.Findings – The analysis showed that all three categories of characteristics (culture, climate, and other traits) are significantly correlated with IC management. The results also indicated significant differences in all organizational characteristics and IC management between Canada and the Middle East.Research limitations/implications – Culture, climate, and other traits are important enablers for the effective management of IC. Although the research tested three culture variables, four climate variables, and t...

Sustainability reporting: external motivators and internal facilitators

Purpose – The purpose of this study is to investigate the role of internal variables, such as strategic governance and operational controls, along with external variables that influence sustainability reporting. Design/methodology/approach – Building on the corporate governance and sustainability reporting literature, the authors develop a model to integrate external motivators and internal facilitators to determine their impact on sustainability reporting. The authors also control for a number of financial and non-financial variables that may influence sustainability reporting. The authors limit their sample to the companies in extractive industries that report their greenhouse gas emission to the Government of Canada. The authors collected the data from several data sources including secondary archival databases, newspapers, Web sites and annual reports. Findings – Using a sample of companies in high-polluting industries, the authors found that variables representing both external pressures that act as ...

TQM and organizational performance using the balanced scorecard approach

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between the implementation of total quality management (TQM) and organizational performance, using the balanced scorecard (BSC) approach. Design/methodology/approach - In order to investigate the relationship between TQM and BSC, a questionnaire was developed and distributed to 30 largest pharmaceutical distribution companies in Iran. Structural equation modeling was used to evaluate the measurement model and to test the research hypotheses using the data from 933 completed questionnaires. Findings - The results supported the research model and revealed that TQM implementation can positively and significantly influence the BSC and its four perspectives. Practical implications - Considering the strong association between TQM and all four perspectives of organizational performance (BSC), managers should strongly leverage the implementation of TQM practices in order to reach their strategic objectives. Originality/value - This study is the first empirical study conducted on the association of TQM and BSC in the pharmaceutical industry. The findings of this study provide strong evidence supporting the implementation of TQM in the pharmaceutical context.

The effects of knowledge creation process on organizational performance using the BSC approach: the mediating role of intellectual capital

Knowledge is a key success factor in achieving competitive advantage in the current fast-paced and uncertain economic environment. Several studies in the literature have analyzed the relationship between knowledge creation (KC) and organizational success; however, the mechanisms by which KC leads to accumulation of intellectual capital (IC) and thereby affects various dimensions of organizational performance are understudied. The purpose of this paper is to examine how KC and IC and their relationship influence key dimensions of organizational performance.,A research model was developed and tested based on the literature in the areas of KC, IC and organizational performance. This study uses a survey sent to companies in an intensive knowledge-based industry. The balanced scorecard (BSC) approach was used to measure the key dimensions of organizational performance.,The results from structural equation modeling (SEM) on 470 completed questionnaires received from the pharmaceutical companies in Iran reveal that KC activities lead to the accumulation of organizational IC and IC has a crucial and positive impact on the BSC. Furthermore, the results from the path analysis indicate that IC mediates the effects of KC on the BSC.,The findings of this study contribute to the extant literature on the relationship between knowledge and organizational performance by demonstrating that knowledge and KC lead to performance when organizations utilize KC activities and leverage them to accumulate IC. Once used effectively, IC will result in a better performance in the knowledge-intensive environments.,This is the first study that investigates how KC contributes to firm performance by incorporating the mediating impact of IC on the BSC. The proposed model and results will help organizations to identify the mechanisms through which KC initiatives improve organizational performance.

The Decision Usefulness of Comprehensive Income Reporting: Evidence from Canada

In this study, we empirically investigate the decision usefulness of mandatory reporting of comprehensive income in Canada. Drawing upon Ohlson’s (1999) discussion of the attributes of transitory earnings, we used a sample of 324 firms listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange for the study period to test whether OCI and its individual components (namely, unrealized gains and losses on cash flow hedges, unrealized gains and losses on available for sale investments, and foreign currency translation adjustment on foreign subsidiaries) possess forecasting relevance, predictability and value relevance. We found that aggregate OCI and some of its individual components are relevant in forecasting future abnormal earnings. We also found that OCI is predictable, and incrementally value relevant to net income. The results of our study suggest that Ohlson’s description of transitory earnings might not apply to OCI, and that the reporting of comprehensive income in Canada did enhance the decision usefulness of accounting numbers.

Voluntary Non-Financial Reporting: The Role of Strategic and Operational Controls

This research looks internally to investigate the role of both strategic and operational controls in motivating the broadness of the organization’s accountability definition and in turn its willingness to provide voluntary disclosure on environmental, social, and governance issues. The premise of this research is that the existence of internal controls within the organization provides a higher degree of confidence in the integrity of the voluntary non-financial disclosures to ward off any disclosure risk that might occur from revealing poor performance results. Strategic control evolves from the structure and characteristics of the board of directors. The board’s direction then cultivates operational controls through an environmental management system. Using archival data, we study the existence of two board characteristics (independent directors and CEO/Chair duality) and three components of an organization’s environmental management system (policy, training, and assurance). All, except CEO/Chair duality, are significantly related to the organization’s voluntary non-financial disclosure score, predicting over 50 percent of the variance in the disclosure score (R squared of .509). Our findings show that various levels of control provide additional insights into the voluntary disclosure decision.