The Pricing of Intellectual Capital in the IT Industry

42 Pages Posted: 14 Jan 2009

See all articles by Hung-Chao Yu

Hung-Chao Yu

National Chengchi University

Wen-Yin Wang

National Chengchi University

Chingfu Chang

National Chengchi University

Date Written: January 14, 2009

Abstract

This study adopts Ohlson's (1995) valuation model and Dechow et al.'s (1999) framework to examine the value relevance of intellectual capital (IC) disclosed by Taiwan's information technology (IT) companies. Following prior studies, we focus on four IC components: human, innovation, process, and relation. Several important findings are documented. First, Taiwan's IT companies are more likely to focus on human and process capital than on innovation and relation capital. Second, there is a positive association between IT companies' abnormal accounting rates of return and the persistence of abnormal earnings. A possible reason underlying this result is that these companies have substantial increase in sales over years. Third, IC disclosure is value relevant to IT companies' business valuation. More importantly, IC captures a large portion of the unexpected earnings. Finally, the use of a constant discount rate may be inappropriate in estimating the Ohlson model because it generates biased abnormal earnings that masks or dilutes the value relevance of IC during the business valuation process. Management and policy implications are discussed.

Keywords: Information technology, Intellectual capital, Human capital, Innovation capital, Process capital, Relation capital, Rate of return on equity

JEL Classification: G14, L63, M41, M45, M47

Suggested Citation

Yu, Hung-Chao and Wang, Wen-Yin and Chang, Chingfu, The Pricing of Intellectual Capital in the IT Industry (January 14, 2009). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1327668 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1327668

Hung-Chao Yu (Contact Author)

National Chengchi University ( email )

No. 64, Sec. 2
Zhi-Nan Rd., Wenshan District
Taipei, Taipei 11605
Taiwan
+886-2-2938-7693 (Phone)
+886-2-2938-7113 (Fax)

Wen-Yin Wang

National Chengchi University ( email )

No. 64, Chih-Nan Road
Section 2
Wenshan, Taipei, 11623
Taiwan

Chingfu Chang

National Chengchi University ( email )

No. 64, Chih-Nan Road
Section 2
Wenshan, Taipei, 11623
Taiwan

Do you have negative results from your research you’d like to share?

Paper statistics

Downloads
613
Abstract Views
3,128
Rank
80,642
PlumX Metrics