Networking Intellectual Capital towards Competitiveness: An Insight into the European Higher Education Institutions

Abstract

Abstract: Today, the interplay between the network society and the knowledge society have provided an overarching perspective on how global interconnectivity and knowledge transfer cannot be separated anymore. The advancement of technological opportunities and the openness towards knowledge acquisition have reconfigured the landscape of human collaboration. As a premise of achieving sustainable competitive advantages, organizations should reconsider the value of the social and information exchange within their networks, facilitating organizational learning and proper response to the field dynamics. Against this backdrop, the present paper addressed the viewpoints and practices of academics from European higher education institutions in regard to leveraging the intellectual capital within their online social networks. Stressing on subjects from European developing countries, the research advanced a new concept ‑ the network‑based intellectual capital liable to account for an emergent capital reification and relied on an interview‑based survey with 27 professors. As the findings showed, although acknowledged as a paramount competitive advantage, the network‑based intellectual capital is yet to be properly capitalized.