The rise of Intellectual Capital reporting. The relevance of IC disclosure in Italian Universities

Abstract

This thesis is the result of the research work carried out during the three years of PhD in Public Sector Accounting at the University of Salerno under the supervision of prof. Tartaglia Polcini, and during the four months, at the University of Ghent under the supervision of prof. Johan Christiaens. The thesis represents a structured compendium of the results obtained from three empirical researches. However, it does not intend to offer a mere summary of these works, but to describe in detail, from a theoretical point of view, the phenomenon investigated, arriving in a consequential manner to the presentation of the results of the research conducted which represent its empirical developments. The PhD research activity has been mainly focused on Intellectual Capital (IC) which in recent years has gained momentum first in the private sector and, then, more vigorously, in the public sector as critical success factor. Intellectual Capital can be defined as “the collection of intangibles which allows an organization to transfer a collection of material, financial and human resources into a system capable of creating value for the stakeholders” European Commission (2006, p. 4). Due to its intangible nature, the IC has progressively acquired more relevance in public sector and in particular in University sector which, among public sector entities, have the highest degree of intangibility. In particular, Universities are basically knowledge-based institutions in which IC plays a crucial role as it is both the result of the research and development activities and the driver that leads to the creation of greater value from those activities... [edited by Author]