Constructing a national intellectual capital concept

Abstract

Intellectual capital at the national level has recently emerged as a new area of research, where the focus is on understanding and measuring the intangible factors influencing national wealth creation. The paper analyses how such abstract concept is constructed and what characteristics prevail in recent national intellectual capital research. Different perspectives of national intellectual capital were identified. The prevailing one defines national intellectual capital as a static object, which could be measured and represented by structural factors. But national intellectual capital could be understood as a process, where the dynamic characteristics are the most important. In order to represent national intellectual capital, its elements and their structural relations should be analysed inseparably.