Managing intellectual capital inside online communities of practice: an integrated multi-step approach

The increasingly use of social online services has contributed to raising interest in studying a renewed active contribution of individuals to business development processes and value creation. As in knowledge-based organizations the phenomenon of value creation refers to intangible assets, in this study we apply a validated refined framework for intellectual capital (IC) analysis. Accordingly, IC can be grouped into three dimensions: (a) human capital (HC); (b) structural capital (SC); and (c) relational capital (RC). Because of their characterizations, Communities represent a privileged place for IC analysis on an individual and collective level. The unit of analysis of our integrated step-by-step methodology are two online communities of practice (CoPs), operating within one of the most important Italian telecommunication company (TIM S.p.A.). As a result of their empirical investigation, this integrated approach is able to provide both academics and practitioners with an effective tool for assessing intellectual capital and its related dimensions.