Intellectual capital between measurement and reporting: a structured literature review

Purpose – In the past decade, intellectual capital (IC) measurement and reporting have been feeding scientificdebate; however, only few studies address these issues together. The present research aims to provide anintegrated view of the topics covered by the existing literature and to highlight the emerging research trendsand set the agenda for future research.Design/methodology/approach – This study develops a structured literature review (SLR) of the extantresearch concerned with IC measurement and reporting, using a comprehensive sample of 1,021 articlesextracted from the Scopus database.Findings – The findings of the SLR show that the existing literature focuses on seven research areas: IC andpublic sector; IC university and education; IC evaluation method; internal and external IC disclosure; IC andCSR; management of IC in organizations; other. Overall, findings indicate that IC measurement and reportingare highly researched topics that continue to attract the interests of scholars. Finally, the SLR analysis hasallowed outlining a future research agenda, with particular reference to the IC evaluation method and internaland external IC disclosure research areas.Research limitations/implications – The main limitation of this research lies in the manual screening ofrelevant studies, which entails some degree of subjectivity. Furthermore, another limitation research could beconsidered the use of a single database (Scopus).Originality/value – The present study brings potential contributions for scholars and practitioners. From ascholarly perspective, the paper provides a systematization of scientific contributions that have dealt with ICmeasurement and reporting. In particular, it contributes to the scholarly debate bringing into focus various ICmeasurement and reporting issues in the landscape of private and public organizations. Referring to practicalimplications, our research supports the strategic use of IC measurement and reporting as a key lever forimproving the management of firms. Using an analytical framework that combines insights from the agency,stakeholder and legitimacy theories, this study highlights that IC reporting activity should be usedstrategically as a means to engage with all firm’s stakeholders, in particular with a view to reducinginformation asymmetry and improving firm reputation