Intellectual capital, innovation performance and competitive advantage: Evidence from SMEs in Vietnam

Drawing on the Knowledge-Based View, this study examines the impact of intellectual capital components, including human capital, social capital, and organizational capital, on innovation performance and competitive advantage among SMEs in Vietnam. Using the Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) approach, this study focuses on answering two questions: (1) Do the components of intellectual capital significantly influence innovation performance? (2) Does innovation performance mediate the relationship between components of intellectual capital and competitive advantage? Data were collected through a structured survey administered to a sample of 274 respondents from SMEs in Vietnam. The results reveal that all three dimensions of intellectual capital have a direct and statistically significant influence on both innovation performance and competitive advantage, with human capital playing the most critical role in driving these outcomes. Additionally, innovation performance is found to mediate the relationship between human capital, social capital, and competitive advantage. Based on these findings, the study provides relevant discussions and practical implications.