Italian State Universities Performance Plans: An Intellectual Capital Focus?

PURPOSE \u2013 The current research aims to investigate what Italian state universities consider as Intellectual Capital (IC) in their published performance plans (PPs). State universities assume a specific responsibility in the production and dissemination of knowledge and in the investment in research and human resources (Lapsley and Miller, 2004). Consequently, a central role has been given for IC approaches in managing universities (S\ue1nchez and Elena, 2005). During the last decade the European Union has issued several initiatives to support IC management practices and studies in higher education (e.g., Leitner, 2004). In 2009, Italy required public organisations to issue a performance plan with a section devoted to IC issues (D.Lgs no. 150/2009, CIVIT, Resolution no. 89/2010 and 112/2010). METHODOLOGY\u2013 The study uses content analysis (Guthrie et al., 2004; Krippendorff, 2004) to determine the type and extent of IC development strategies in a group of 44 Italian state university performance plans issued in 2011. The documents analysed were identified by checking CIVIT and university websites. The World Wide Web was chosen because it is the one suggested by the Italian regulation in order to achieve a wider transparency toward citizens (D.Lgs no. 150/2009). The content analysis was conducted by applying a coding instrument based on the \u201cIntellectual Capital Statements \u2013 The New Guideline\u201d (DMSTI, 2003), that lists a series of categories, actions and initiatives, and indicators to account for the focus on IC items. ORIGINALITY\u2013 The paper makes an original contribution to research on IC development strategies in universities, given the lack of empirical studies on these issues. Moreover, it represents one of the first attempts to analyse IC in Italian state universities\u2019 planning processes. IMPLICATIONS \u2013 The findings of the current research show a limited focus on IC items in the performance plans of Italian state university. Particularly, the study suggests aspects that should gain a greater attention in state university performance plans. In doing so, it opens up new horizons for future research, such as the opportunity to analyse links between IC planning and reporting. PAPER TYPE \u2013 Academic Research Pape