The intellectual capital and its impact on the sustainable development of the SML-sized enterprises in Poland

Abstract

PURPOSE: The main goal of the article is to analyze the level of differentiation of awareness and knowledge of managers of small, medium and large enterprises within the scope of the essence and meaning of intellectual capital and the influence of its elements on the sustainable development of enterprises in Poland.

DESIGN/METHODOLOGY/APPROACH: The paper exploits a data set of 1067 companies operating in Poland (employing at least 10 employees). In order to test the research hypotheses, the analysis of variations for fuzzy numbers (FANOVA) was implemented.

FINDINGS: Although the majority of enterprises in Poland do not implement intellectual capital management strategies, managers are aware of the essence and significance of intellectual capital. The differentiation of the responses of managers based on the size of the enterprise was not statistically significant.

PRACTICAL IMPLICATIONS: This paper recommends companies to invest in intellectual capital that according to managers’ assessment has a significant impact on their sustainability.

ORIGINALITY/VALUE: This research contributes to enrich the theoretical framework for the Polish context regarding intellectual capital and it allows contrasting the evidence with other studies at national levels.