Relationship Between Investments Intellectual Capital and Financial Performance: Evidence from Serbian Hotel Industry 2013–2017

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to identify the relationship between the investments in intellectual capital and company’s financial performance based on the Serbian evidence of Hotels. Various studies proved the presence of positive relationships between intellectual capital and company’s performance. Developing such a relationship shows the transformation process from investments in intellectual capital into value. Research Question: The main research question is: “How do the investments in intellectual capital components influence on Serbian hotels’ financial performance?” Research design and approach: Intellectual capital is a strategic resource that plays an important role in value creation process. The intellectual capital topic has been interesting last few decades taking into account that the twentieth century is a century of ideas, knowledge, innovations, information and changes. Parallelly, the financial market became influential in the global market, so the intellectual capital found very important role for itself. This research aims to fill the gap in the literature that exists when it is operating revenues, operating income and net results seen as a final performance. By improving company’s financial performance through the investments in intellectual capital components, company generates benefits on a long-term. Practical implications: Taking into consideration that until now the relation between intellectual capital and final performance is explored in many different industries, the main research idea will be to empirically follow impact of investments in intellectual capital (human capital, organizational capital and relational capital) on the final financial performance on the sample of Serbian hotel industry. Research methodology: Analysis covered 42 Serbian hotels in the period from 2013 until 2017. Financial information are obtained from the financial database “CUBE Team”. In the study was used descriptive statistics, stepwise method of correlation analysis and complex regression statistical analysis on three main research models in order to identify relation between dependent, independent and control variables, precisely investments in intellectual capital and financial performance. Findings: The study confirmed high positive link between investments in intellectual capital components and financial performance on a sample of Serbian hotels. Original value: The study contributes to the literature of the management sciences by confirming that investments in intellectual capital components improves the Serbian hotels’ financial performance.