Using content analysis as a research methodology for investigating intellectual capital disclosure

2015 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. 121-155 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Dumay ◽  
Linlin Cai
Keyword(s):  
Content Analysis ◽  
Intellectual Capital ◽  
Research Methodology ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Future Studies ◽  
Current State ◽  
Rigorous Research ◽  
Comprehensive Text ◽  
Drawing Board ◽  
Research Questions

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to build on Dumay and Cai’s (2014) prior research to provide a deeper analysis of the problems associated with using content analysis (CA) as a research methodology for investigating intellectual capital disclosure (ICD). Design/methodology/approach – Totally, 110 articles utilising CA as a research methodology for inquiring into ICD are analysed based on Krippendorff’s (2013) conceptual CA research framework and design logic, and tied into issues relating to CA as a research methodology for investigating ICD. Findings – The authors advocate that ICD CA researchers need to go back to the drawing board and ensure that future studies rigorously apply the basic logic of CA design. In its current state, ICD CA research needs to take a few steps back, before it can move forward. If ICD CA researchers can accomplish this, then there is an opportunity to undertake rigorous research to develop reliable and valid outputs that add to new knowledge about IC. Research limitations/implications – The main limitations of the research are the chosen sample of CA-based ICD articles and the adoption of the Krippendorff’s framework. However, the authors have identified the main corpus of CA-based ICD studies and since Krippendorff is the only recognised comprehensive text on CA as a methodology, the authors use the most appropriate data and framework possible for the analysis. Originality/value – Prior CA studies have laid the foundation for what is a popular research methodology. However, the authors argue that the popularity of CA as a research method for investigating ICD has become so great that at times the research methodology “drives the research questions” as opposed to the “research questions driving the methodology” Hence, this research examines reasons for CA limited contemporary contribution and recommends how this may be overcome rather than prescribing how to conduct ICD CA research.

A review and critique of content analysis as a methodology for inquiring into IC disclosure

2014 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
pp. 264-290 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Dumay ◽  
Linlin Cai
Keyword(s):  
Content Analysis ◽  
Intellectual Capital ◽  
Research Methodology ◽  
Google Scholar ◽  
Annual Reports ◽  
Citation Data ◽  
Data Set ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Positive View ◽  
The Impact

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to review and critique the current status of content analysis (CA) as a research method for inquiring into intellectual capital disclosure (ICD) to determine if CA has a continued role to play in developing new intellectual capital (IC) knowledge. Design/methodology/approach – In all, 110 articles utilising CA as a research methodology for inquiring into ICD are analysed. The research is developed in line with other articles critically investigating IC research conducted by Guthrie et al. (2012), Dumay and Garanina (2013) and Dumay (2014). To help understand the impact of CA research articles, the data set is supplemented by including citation data from Google Scholar. The authors also differentiate the paper from other IC research reviews by critically examining the findings and implications of the articles analysed. Findings – The authors do not hold a very positive view on future research which does not substantially depart from the plethora of articles examining ICD using annual reports as a data source or who do not in some way radically change the approach. The authors are of the view that early research into ICD using CA as a methodology was warranted because there was little knowledge about the pattern of IC disclosure in annual reports and other possible ICD forms. However, the research into ICD using annual reports and other data sources has added little more than prove that companies are unwilling to publicly disclose IC to their stakeholders. While the authors do not hold a positive view on future CA research based on annual reports, the authors do hold out hope that researchers will transform their understanding and application of CA as a research methodology and offer one example of how this might be achieved. Originality/value – The paper presents a comprehensive critical review of published articles utilising CA as a research methodology for inquiring into ICD along with measuring the impact of the articles using citation data from Google Scholar. Hence, the research and its impacts are simultaneously assessed offering insights into the future role that CA as a research methodology has to play in developing new IC knowledge.

Drivers and semantic properties of intellectual capital information in sell-side analysts’ reports

2016 ◽  
Vol 12 (4) ◽  
pp. 434-471 ◽  
Author(s):  
Subhash Abhayawansa ◽  
James Guthrie
Keyword(s):  
Content Analysis ◽  
Financial Reporting ◽  
Intellectual Capital ◽  
Systematic Risk ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Playing Field ◽  
Time Specific ◽  
Disclosure Strategy ◽  
Semantic Properties ◽  
Forward Looking

Purpose This paper aims to understand the potential usefulness of sell-side analysts’ investment recommendation reports as a medium for communicating intellectual capital (IC) information. It explores the manner in which analyst reports supply IC information and the types of companies in relation to which analyst reports supply most IC information. Design/methodology/approach A content analysis of 64 initiating coverage analyst reports written on Australian companies is performed. The content analysis focuses on three semantic properties of IC disclosures: format (i.e. discursive, numerical-non-monetary, numerical-monetary and visual), news-tenor (i.e. positive, neutral and negative) and time-orientation (i.e. forward-looking, non-time-specific and past-oriented). The paper investigates whether analyst reports contain more IC information on companies providing less IC information through their own channels. For this, the authors test the hypothesised relationship between the extent of IC information and the IC intensity of the analysed company’s sector and the systematic risk of the company. Findings IC information in analyst reports is more discursive than numerical, not significantly more forward-looking in general and balanced between negative or neutral and positive attributions (except for information on company management). However, compared to the semantic properties of corporate reporting media, analyst reports in this study communicate IC information in a manner arguably more useful to investors. A company’s systematic risk and sector in which the company operates are associated with the extent of IC information in analyst reports. The findings indicate that analysts’ contribution as an IC information provider is greatest for companies providing less IC information directly to the public. Practical implications The results have implications for policymakers contemplating reforming non-financial reporting regulation and ensuring a level playing field for investors and companies when determining corporate IC disclosure strategy and strategies for investor relations. Originality/value This is the first study to explore semantic properties and drivers of IC information in analysts’ initiating coverage reports. This paper highlights the importance of analyst reports as a medium for communicating IC information that could complement corporate communication media.

Intellectual capital disclosure in integrated reporting: an impression management analysis

2015 ◽  
Vol 16 (3) ◽  
pp. 661-680 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gaia Melloni
Keyword(s):  
Content Analysis ◽  
Impression Management ◽  
Intellectual Capital ◽  
Design Methodology ◽  
Public Perceptions ◽  
Integrated Reporting ◽  
Content Type ◽  
International Integrated Reporting Council ◽  
The Relationship

Purpose – Intellectual capital (IC) is fundamental to understanding how firms create value; however, current IC disclosure (ICD) has been described as inadequate due to the lack of an established IC framework and companies’ actual commitment to report IC information. The International Integrated Reporting Council aims to foster ICD by means of integrated reporting (IR); such a report should display how IC and other forms of capital (e.g. financial) contribute to value creation over time. Drawing on impression management (IM) studies, the purpose of this paper is to assess the quality of ICD offered in IR. Design/methodology/approach – A manual content analysis of all the reports available in the International Integrated Reporting Council web site is run considering both the content of ICD and specific linguistic attributes (evidence, time orientation and tone). In addition, the study tests the relationship between the positive ICD tone and specific characteristics that may incentive managers to manipulate their disclosure to determine whether firms use ICD to manage public perceptions of corporate behaviour. Findings – The results of the content analysis show that majority of ICD is focused on relational capital, with limited quantitative and forward-looking information. Additionally, compared to non-ICD, ICD is significantly more optimistic. Furthermore, the positive tone of ICD is significantly associated with declining performance, bigger size and higher level of intangibles supporting the use of ICD as an IM strategy. Originality/value – The research contributes to the literature offering evidence of the quality of the ICD offered in the IR and demonstrating that ICD offered in the IR is used by managers opportunistically to advance their image.

Understanding the impact of intellectual capital on entrepreneurship: a literature review

2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Antonio Crupi ◽  
Fabrizio Cesaroni ◽  
Alberto Di Minin
Keyword(s):  
Intellectual Capital ◽  
Family Firms ◽  
Management Practices ◽  
Qualitative Content Analysis ◽  
Building Blocks ◽  
Bibliographic Coupling ◽  
Data Set ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Future Studies ◽  
The Impact

PurposeThe present paper aims to explore and map the development of the intellectual capital (IC)-related studies by answering the following research questions: (1) what are the theoretical pillars on which prior literature focusing on the IC–entrepreneurship relationship has grown and expanded?; (2) what are the main research areas covered by past literature focused on the IC–entrepreneurship relationship?; (3) which areas of research should be explored in the future?Design/methodology/approachThe study relied on the co-citation analysis and bibliographic coupling techniques to investigate a complete data set of IC–entrepreneurship publications.FindingsFindings indicated that scholars' attention had increased, starting from the beginning of the 2000s due to the widespread recognition of the importance of knowledge for firms' competitive advantage. Results of the co-citation clustering analysis have identified five main theoretical building blocks of the IC–entrepreneurship literature, which addressed both the basics of IC foundations and more specific aspects related to IC (family firms and the measurement of IC). Results of the bibliographic coupling analysis indicated that future studies should consider the existence of interactions and synergies among the different components of IC. Furthermore, attention should be devoted to the management practices of IC.Originality/valueThe present study represents the contributions offered by IC to studies about entrepreneurship strategies. Building on findings emerging from a qualitative content analysis on clustered prior publications, the authors discuss a research agenda that is expected to inspire future studies to continue the exploration of the crucial characteristics of IC in contributing to entrepreneurial and managerial studies.

Knowledge and intellectual capital in internationalizing SMEs, case study in technology-based health companies

2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Amir Zakery ◽  
Mohammad Sadegh Saremi
Keyword(s):  
Content Analysis ◽  
Communication Networks ◽  
Intellectual Capital ◽  
Medical Equipment ◽  
International Markets ◽  
Market Knowledge ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Corporate Strategies ◽  
Knowledge Area ◽  
Knowledge Intensive

PurposeInternational businesses play a significant role in the growth, innovation and survival of technology-based firms (TBFs). Creating new opportunities in international markets, using communication networks and confronting constraints on available resources have distinguished the internationalization of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and intensified the importance of knowledge acquisition and continuous learning. This study aimed to (1) configure (the types and sources of) and (2) measure the internationalization knowledge of TBFs, by focusing on a knowledge-intensive part of the health industry in an emerging country: Iranian advanced medical equipment companies.Design/methodology/approachFor this purpose, a qualitative approach was adopted to interview the leaders of eight TBFs exporting medical equipment. Obtained data were investigated using content analysis.FindingsAccording to the content analysis results for configuration, technological knowledge and market knowledge were mainly obtained through direct experience and vicarious learning; however, internationalization knowledge is not so established as the third major knowledge area to integrate technological with market knowledge in line with corporate strategies of an internationalizing firm. For measurement of knowledge assets of internationalizing firms as a prerequisite for continuous improvement, several intellectual capital indices were extracted, including human, structural and relational capital.Originality/valueThis research complements existing literature in internationalization knowledge configuration via deploying an "Intellectual capital" perspective. It could enhance efforts for improving the learning of internationalizing SMEs, especially in the developing countries.

Abusive supervision: a content analysis of theory and methodology

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Yucheng Zhang ◽  
Zhongwei Hou ◽  
Xingxing Zhou ◽  
Yumeng Yue ◽  
Siqi Liu ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Content Analysis ◽  
Organizational Behavior ◽  
Research Design ◽  
Empirical Studies ◽  
Country Of Origin ◽  
Abusive Supervision ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Current State ◽  
The Relationship

Purpose Despite recent organizational behavior studies have witnessed considerable progress in abusive supervision research; some demerits for both theory and methodology still remain in the past years. To clarify the current state of knowledge in the field, this study aims to analyze the current state of theories and methods on abusive supervision and provides a detailed future research agenda. Design/methodology/approach This paper conducted a literature review for both theory and methodology of the abusive supervision research using a content analysis of 134 publications. Findings For the theory part, this paper summarized the theories that had been applied to explain the relationship between abusive supervision and its consequences as well as antecedents. For the methodology part, this paper outlined some critical issues regarding country of origin, research design, measurement, analysis strategy and also summarized with a discussion of the relationship between methodological issues and article impact. Finally, this paper concluded by presenting an agenda for future abusive supervision research regarding both theory and methodology. Originality/value First, this paper summarizes the main theories, antecedents and consequences often used in abusive supervision research to allow scholars to carry out theoretically driven research investigating abusive supervision in the future. Second, through a content analysis of the methods sections of abusive supervision research in the samples (i.e. country of origin, research design, measurement and analytical procedures), this paper identified the potential reasons underlying the inconsistency in the conclusions of abusive supervision research and provide some guidance for future empirical studies. Third, based on the qualitative review, this paper provides an agenda for future research investigating abusive supervision by developing a content-specific theoretical framework to benchmark abusive supervision research against other research related to leadership and offers an accurate response to scholars’ criticisms of abusive supervision research.

scholarly journals Comparison of the Specificities and Efficacies of Primers for Aromatic Dioxygenase Gene Analysis of Environmental Samples

2011 ◽  
Vol 77 (11) ◽  
pp. 3551-3557 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shoko Iwai ◽  
Timothy A. Johnson ◽  
Benli Chai ◽  
Syed A. Hashsham ◽  
James M. Tiedje
Keyword(s):  
Content Analysis ◽  
Carbon Cycling ◽  
Environmental Samples ◽  
Experimental Studies ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Aromatic Carbon ◽  
Future Studies ◽  
Pcr Product ◽  
Dioxygenase Gene ◽  
Dioxygenase Genes

ABSTRACTAromatic dioxygenase genes have long been of interest for bioremediation and aromatic carbon cycling studies. To date, 115 primers and probes have been designed and used to analyze dioxygenase gene diversities in environmental samples. Here we analyze those primers' specificities, coverages, and PCR product lengths compared to known aromatic dioxygenase genes based onin silicoanalysis as well as summarize their differing advantages or effectiveness from over 50 reported experimental studies. We also provide some guidance for primer use in future studies.

Discriminant analysis in export research: an imperative for methodological rigor

2017 ◽  
Vol 29 (1) ◽  
pp. 145-170 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eldrede T. Kahiya
Keyword(s):  
Content Analysis ◽  
Discriminant Analysis ◽  
Design Methodology ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Validity And Reliability ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Future Studies ◽  
Research Context ◽  
Methodological Rigor ◽  
Practical Implications

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to appraise methodological rigor in the application of discriminant analysis (DA) in export-focused research and to offer guidelines for future studies. Design/methodology/approach The sample includes 89 empirical peer-reviewed studies, comprising 102 models published over the period 1979-2014. Content analysis and vote counting are used to evaluate each of these studies. Findings This review highlights major flaws in the application of DA in export research. The shortcomings are self-evident particularly concerning suitability of DA for research context, completeness in the reporting of descriptive results, and validity and reliability of predictive results. Practical implications The study takes the position that the lack of methodological rigor may be undermining the eminence of knowledge in exporting, and this has extensive implications for both researchers and practitioners. Originality/value This review outlines steps to assess methodological rigor associated with DA and offers guidelines for scholars seeking to enhance rigor in future research.

The impact of AACSB accreditation on the autonomy and costs of limited resource institutions whose missions are primarily teaching

2014 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 358-374 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard Bieker
Keyword(s):  
Content Analysis ◽  
Conceptual Framework ◽  
Limited Resource ◽  
Resource Base ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Business Source Premier ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Research Questions ◽  
Implicit And Explicit ◽  
The Impact

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the impact of AACSB accreditation on the autonomy and costs of limited resource institutions whose missions are primarily teaching. Design/methodology/approach – To evaluate the research questions, a content analysis of all publications in the EBSCO Business Source Premier Database for the period January 1, 1990 through December 15, 2012 was conducted. Findings – The findings indicate that in the process of becoming AACSB accredited, faculty members of the subject institutions shift their focus more toward research and less toward teaching activities, and that the institutions become less autonomous and more like their benchmark AACSB institutions. In addition, the costs of AACSB accreditation are likely to be significant for the subject institutions. Research limitations/implications – The findings of the study point to the need for additional theoretical and empirical research related to the research questions. First, there is a need to formulate a conceptual framework for clearly identifying and measuring the implicit and explicit costs, including all of the opportunity costs, associated with accreditation. In addition, there is a compelling need to develop a conceptual framework and measurement system that will allow business schools to better assess their quality and productivity. For limited resource institutions whose missions are primarily teaching this system should comport with the schools’ teaching missions. Practical implications – The findings suggest that the subject institutions seeking AACSB accreditation should carefully consider a number of questions before pursing accreditation. First, is the institution's mission congruent with AACSB standards or will its mission have to be changed? If AACSB accreditation is deemed to be appropriate, how will the associated changes in resource needs and resource allocation serve to further the institution's mission? And, what are the incremental costs of accreditation, and does the institution have the resource base to sustain accreditation? Originality/value – The study is the first to conduct a detailed content analysis to evaluate some of the costs and benefits of AACSB accreditation for limited resource institutions whose missions are primarily teaching.

Is the literature on content analysis of intellectual capital reporting heading towards a dead end?

2015 ◽  
Vol 16 (3) ◽  
pp. 681-699 ◽  
Author(s):  
Viktoria Goebel
Keyword(s):  
Content Analysis ◽  
Intellectual Capital ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Dead End ◽  
Content Analyses ◽  
New Ideas ◽  
Highly Correlated ◽  
Research Frameworks ◽  
Meta Analyses

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to respond to the call by Dumay and Cai (2014) for new ideas to enhance intellectual capital (IC) research. One possibility is to draw conclusions on comparability across the results of prior studies. This study investigates whether the results of prior IC content analyses are comparable despite differences in their IC research frameworks. Design/methodology/approach – A content analysis of 428 German management reports is conducted, capturing the IC reporting scores for individual IC items to investigate the role of certain widely used IC items. The relationships of IC scores for different combinations of widely used IC items are further examined in a correlation analysis to indicate comparability of prior results. Findings – The findings show that widely used IC items capture the majority of IC reporting and that the IC scores for different combinations of these IC items are highly correlated. These findings indicate that the results of prior IC content analyses are comparable as long as most of the widely used IC items are included in prior IC research frameworks. Research limitations/implications – The study contributes to IC reporting research as it shows that conclusions can be drawn across prior studies in meta-analyses because the results of prior studies are comparable in rankings and key findings. Originality/value – Although content analyses of IC reporting have been previously criticised, this study seminally questions the comparability of the results of prior studies due to differences in the IC research frameworks.

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