The purpose of this paper is to present an innovative operational proposal for measuring the intellectual capital (IC) of higher education institutions (HEIs) through a strategic prospective lens of analysis.
After providing a literature review on the methods for measuring IC that focuses on the organisational IC of HEIs, four case studies applied to Portuguese HEIs are presented, using a matrix of cross-referenced impacts – multiplications applied to a classification (MICMAC) approach.
The empirical findings reveal how human capital, structural capital and relational capital make up the core components and provide a fairly diversified list of the measurement indicators for the operational evaluation of the IC of HEIs.
It contributes into the literature of strategic prospective analysis of HEIs by: analysing the measurement systems for the organisational IC interrelated with HEIs; identifying the key components to the organisational IC of HEIs and their respective measurement indicators; and draufting a new method for operationally implementing organisational IC through the systematic application of the components and indicators identified.
Through an innovative vision, the present study reconciles and systematically structures the methods already proposed by other authors before presenting an innovative operational approach and an alternative to the already existing methods. In addition, the structure of this proposal itself enables HEIs to choose from among the various indicators proposed for IC, correspondingly those that best align with the type of institution under evaluation.
