Title: Effect of intellectual capital on the business performance of SMEs in Malaysia

Authors: Muhammad Khalique; Mohd Rafi Bin Yaacob; Muhammad Khalilur Rahman; Adams Adeiza

Addresses: Faculty of Entrepreneurship and Business, Universiti Malaysia Kelantan, 16100, Kelantan, Malaysia; Faculty of MUST Business School, Mirpur University of Science and Technology (MUST), 10250, AJ&K, Pakistan ' Faculty of Entrepreneurship and Business, Universiti Malaysia Kelantan, 16100, Kelantan, Malaysia ' Faculty of Entrepreneurship and Business, Universiti Malaysia Kelantan, 16100, Kelantan, Malaysia ' Faculty of Entrepreneurship and Business, Universiti Malaysia Kelantan, 16100, Kelantan, Malaysia

Abstract: The research intended to investigate the effect of intellectual capital on the business performance of SMEs functioning in Penang Malaysia. The data were gathered through structured questionnaire survey forms. Participants for this study were selected through purposive sampling technique. In this study, 154 individuals were involved to test the six proposed research hypotheses. Multiple regression was used to examine the proposed research prepositions. The empirical findings expressed that four research hypotheses were supported and two hypotheses were not supported. The findings of this study reported that IC is very important for the success of SMEs. This study will provide awareness to SMEs to identify and capitalise their intellectual capital to get competitive advantages. This study will also provide guidelines to the policymakers. This study offers new avenues for future investigators to conduct their studies in various sectors to examine the impact of intellectual capital on performance of SMEs.

Keywords: intellectual capital; hotel industry; digital economy; business performance; small and medium enterprises; SMEs; Malaysia.

DOI: 10.1504/IJLIC.2022.122584

International Journal of Learning and Intellectual Capital, 2022 Vol.19 No.3, pp.257 - 268

Received: 24 Feb 2021
Accepted: 27 Apr 2021
Published online: 03 May 2022 *

Full-text access for editors Full-text access for subscribers Purchase this article Comment on this article