Intellectual capital and human resources: A 26-year thematic systematic review

Intellectual capital is the sum of whatever organizational resources contribute to the value and competitiveness of a company. Though some metrics have been developed for measuring individual and collective capabilities, from a human resources point of view, it is difficult to translate the concept of “intellectual capital” into, for example, financial terms. To better understand the field, the aim of this study is to draw a thematic analysis on the relations between intellectual capital and human resources. We provide an overview of publications and their courses on this subject. We accessed two widely used databases (Scopus and Web of Science) to produce the review. We set a period of 26 years, marked by the subject’s theme entry. In order to handle duplicates, we used RStudio Software, and to manage the data, we used the Bibliometrix package tools (biblioshiny and thematic map). Our analysis revealed how intellectual capital and human resources are important for generating value in organizations. Some results explore innovative ways of managing these resources, such as integrating technological, commercial, organizational, and cultural aspects, using dynamic systems modeling, investing in long-term strategies and in education and training, and studying the relationship between green intellectual capital and green human resources management.