How intellectual capital influences individual performance: A multi-level perspective

Abstract

In the knowledge-based economy, intellectual capital (IC) is of substantial importance. IC includes human capital, organizational capital and social capital. Applying IC is essential for an organization’s survival in a competitive industry such as news media. Reporters are vital human capital in news organizations. They are the knowledge workers who create and distribute news. They also represent social capital because they have to develop relationships with news sources from outside of the organization. However, it is difficult to tap and retain IC. A news organization loses both human and social capital whenever a reporter resigns or job-hops. This research examines the relationships between IC and reporters’ performance from a multi-level perspective. We argue that the performance of an individual reporter is influenced by IC; moreover, job autonomy and team interdependence mediate the influence of IC on reporter performance. We collected 492 valid TV reporter samples from 44 teams, and used the Hierarchical Linear Model (HLM) to analyze the data. All hypotheses were supported, suggesting that the more the management pays attention to reporters’ IC and their working conditions (i.e., job autonomy and task interdependence), the higher the performance of reporters. The implications for team collaborative learning and interaction are discussed.