Intellectual Capital Dynamics: seeing them “in practice” through a temporal lens

Purpose – Considering IC an on-going process, and thus taking into consideration its life cycle and how it changes over time, the purpose of this study is to observe IC dynamics “in practice” through a temporal lens. Design/methodology/approach – A longitudinal case study has been investigated by adopting a participant observation approach in order to understand how the dynamics of IC are understood in practice. Findings – This study spotlights the three main conceptions of IC dynamics (value creation, IC activities and organizational change) which, though generally proposed in literature as separable concepts, do co-exist and interact, in practice as as is reflected in the related managerial tools. Research limitations/implications – The main limitations of this study are twofold. The first is related to the methodology adopted and in particular, to the participant observation approach. The second is related to the specifics of the case study undertaken. This paper contributes to the literature on "Intellectual Capital in action" and "Intellectual Capital in practice" by enriching the understanding of Intellectual Capital dynamics. Originality/value – By comparison to the extant literature in which the IC dynamics concepts are considered separately, this study combines the three different concepts and examines them in vivo, adopting a longitudinal perspective.