Intellectual capital, competitive advantage and firm value: Empirical evidence from Turkey under IFRS adoption

Intellectual capital is recognized as one major source of a firm’s value in the modern business environment. Therefore, this study investigates the impact of intellectual capital (IC) on firm value (FV) in Turkish listed firms following IFRS adoption and examines further if competitive advantage mediates this relationship within an emerging market context. Using panel data for 336 firms listed in Borsa Istanbul from 2005 to 2020, this study uses MVAIC to measure IC and panel regression, EGLS, and dynamic GMM to analyse various effects through direct and mediated relationships. Accordingly, human capital efficiency and innovation capital efficiency significantly enhance firm value, while the effects of relational capital on firm value are mixed. CA, assessed with sale growth and employee growth, does not influence firm value directly. However, it provides a significant mediating effect in transforming intellectual capital into market value. Interaction effects reveal that the fiscal impact of IC is more fully realized when implemented via competitive spillovers. This paper has several unique points. First, it integrates the concepts of IC, firm value, and competitive advantage into a single study. Second, it investigates the relationships within the context of an emerging market. Third, this study contributes to the intellectual capital literature by providing new empirical evidence in an emerging market after the adoption of IFRS.