Bridging intellectual capital and knowledge management through knowledge: a review

The objective of this review study is to identify the role of knowledge in combining Intellectual Capital (IC) and Knowledge Management (KM) within an organization. Though the literature suggests a relationship between IC and KM, the recognition of the best bridge in building this relationship is yet to be discussed and hence the theoretical and conceptual relationship among knowledge, IC and KM is still a dilemma. Thus, this review attempts to identify the knowledge as the bridging source of IC and KM. According to the literature, different arguments were found on this phenomenon, and no evidence is found merely in reviewing how knowledge plays a role in linking IC and KM. Therefore, this study will fill this untouched literature gap by reviewing the previous research articles in the fields of IC and KM. This study adds new knowledge to the existing literature in solving the unsolved puzzle of the role of knowledge in combining IC and KM. This review study attempts to conclude the theoretical relationship of IC with knowledge and the theoretical relationship of KM with knowledge. For this review study, previous research articles were reviewed, and it is identified what kind of relationship exists among IC, KM and knowledge. It was found that knowledge exists in an organization in the form of stock as well as in terms of a flow. Most of the scholars in IC and KM arena argued that the two forms of knowledge, i.e., the form of stock, is the static form of knowledge, while the form of flow is the dynamic form of knowledge. The review further revealed that the static form of knowledge could be substituted with IC and the dynamic form of knowledge can be substituted with KM. Hence, it can be concluded that, based on the various arguments and opinions found from the review, IC is the knowledge stock in an organization, while the KM is the knowledge flow in the organization. Finally, the conclusion of this review study is, knowledge uses its two forms, i.e., stock and flow or static and dynamic to combine the concept of IC and concept of KM.