Intellectual capital and university performance in emerging countries: evidence from Colombian public universities

Purpose This paper aims to explore the relationship between Intellectual Capital (IC) and performance of public universities in emerging countries in order to identify patterns and provide recommendations that may turn the universities’ IC into development opportunities, in terms of research, innovation, and education. Design/methodology/approach The analysis targeted the whole population of the public universities in the Republic of Colombia. A cluster analysis, based on 5 performance variables, has been conducted. Then, the IC of the universities pertaining to the 3 resulting clusters have been compared. Subsequently, for each performance variable, the IC of above-average and below-average universities has been benchmarked. Findings The results of this study show how different aspects of IC are associated with University performance. Among the many, we found that universities should achieve a critical mass to obtain outstanding research and innovation results. The findings also identify the particular importance of both students and scholars international mobility programmes for most of the performance variables. Originality/value This paper proposes an innovative model to analyze the relationship between IC and university performance in emerging countries. The model identifies the association between the IC accrued in the universities and their capability of transferring it to the society under the form of science, innovation, and education.