The increasingly pervasive use of social online services has contributed to raising interest in studying the contribution that the active participation of individuals offers to business. Starting from a validated framework for intellectual capital analysis, the aim of this research is to perfect and implement a method of intellectual capital management and assessment, through the analysis of a community of practice within one of the major Italian telecommunication companies, supported by the adoption of a multi-method approach. The basic assumption is that communities of practice (CoPs) play a fundamental role in innovation because of their intrinsic nature and their ability to shape the organizational knowledge base. After introducing the theoretical background and the integrated step-by-step methodology on which the project is based, the unit of analysis will be a typical example of collaborative communities. This integrated approach will provide both academics and practitioners an effective tool for assessing intellectual capital, its creation and the effectiveness of any investment or implementation plan conceived as a result of its application. Building this research on a mixed methodology approach provides a more complete view, as it allows to calibrate different methods in relation to the different stages of analysis.
According to Teece (1998; 2007), Intellectual Capital is one of the most significant key drivers of firm performance. Moreover, today¿s companies are able to create value mostly by nurturing informal relations and encouraging a free, horizontal flow of knowledge within and across organizational boundaries (Martins Oliveira and Lino Alves, 2014; Cricelli et al., 2012). This is made possible by opening new channels of communication and sharing of new ideas (Cricelli et al., 2012; Zheng et al., 2001).
In line with these considerations, this research project aims at implementing an innovative managerial methodology to assess the contribution and performance of Intellectual Capital in the value creation process. The strength of the project lies in the use of a mixed methodology, which allows the use of qualitative instruments whose results are then processed by quantitative techniques (Amaturo and Punziano, 2016). The choice of methodology is, in fact, consistent with the very nature of CoPs, and allows to take into account relevant stackeholders¿ opinions besides the specificity of the context of analysis(Cricelli et al., 2012; Binder and Clegg, 2007). In addition, the impact of Intellectual Capital factors on the value creation process will be analyzed by also considering the difference between a stock and a flow approach, furthermore contributing to broadening the definition proposed by Brown and Duguid in 2001. In support of the whole analysis, the case study will be conducted on an Italian telecommunications company.
The integrated approach will provide both academics and practitioners an effective tool for proactively promoting, assessing and managing the creation of value of a CoP, by.assessing IC and the effectiveness of any investment or implementation plan conceived as a result of its application (Grimaldi et al., 2013; Cricelli et al., 2012). This will allow a further exploration in the assessment of the strategic impact to the value creation process of collaborative communities (Adler and Hecksher 2007).