Ricerc@Sapienza

Building on the argument that corporate boards are responsible for the creation and leveraging of a firm’s intellectual capital (IC), this study empirically examines the relation between boardroom characteristics—namely board size, director independence, leadership structure and gender diversity—and IC efficiency. Additionally, we propose that the family firm (FF) status is a specific condition that moderates the effect of board features on IC efficiency.

In modern information economies, economic success increasingly depends on the ability to apply knowledge and to transform it into firm value. While intellectual capital plays a critical role in firm success, it is an intangible asset that is difficult to measure and that is unrecorded by the firm. Difficulties in measuring intellectual capital, as well as the dynamic nature of the firms that rely on it, may lead to greater stock market volatility/risk.