HR portal alignment for the creation and development of intellectual capital

Abstract

Creating, maintaining, measuring and leveraging intellectual capital is currently considered one of the main – and most difficult to imitate – sources of competitive advantage for organizations. For this reason, companies focus their human resource (HR) strategies more and more on creating and developing intellectual capital. A key method of achieving this is through the use of HR portals, applications that enable single personalized access points designed for specific user profiles and organizational positions. This paper investigates whether and how HR portal configuration is facilitating intellectual capital creation and development. By means of an in-depth case study of a major consulting firm, the study discusses and answers the research question. Results show that HR configurations for consultancies are designed for social capital creation and development, supported by the alignment of HR portal configuration and assessed through HR portal substitution and leverage indicators.