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The purpose of this brief introductory editorial is to introduce the background and rationale to the special issue, “Intellectual capital: becoming critical”. This is based on a selection of papers presented at the 1st Intellectual Capital (IC) Stream at the 4th International Critical Management Studies Conference at Cambridge University, UK, in July 2005.

Critical management studies (CMS) is not just about theory but demands action; its purpose is to make a difference for the better. Following an introduction to the idea of what “critical management studies” (CMS) entails the main ideas of the seven papers selected are then presented. Each paper is accompanied by a commentary from leading authors in the IC and knowledge management (KM) fields.

Key themes emergent in this “critical” issue include a decisive turn to language, uncertainty and risk, not‐knowing, ambiguity and complexity, scepticism towards simplistic mechanistic models, ownership rights, and the dynamics of situated IC practice. The conclusion reached is that there is much that further work from a CMS perspective can contribute to the IC field.

This special issue is one of the first applications of critical management thinking to the intellectual capital field.

We investigate the role of gender in linking communicative acts that occur in the interactions of self-managed teams to emergent leadership. Specifically, this study presents a framework that differentiates between agentic and communal task- and relations-oriented communication as predictors of emergent leadership, and it hypothesizes that men and women do not differ in what they say but do differ in how they are rewarded (i.e. ascribed informal leadership responsibilities) for their statements.

Interaction coding was used to capture the meeting communication of 116 members of 41 self-managed teams.

Men and women exhibited the same amount of agentic and communal task- and relations-oriented communication and were equally likely to emerge as leaders. However, men experienced an emergent leadership advantage when engaging in agentic and communal task-oriented behaviors. Agentic and communal relations-oriented behaviors did not predict emergent leadership.

The findings imply that theories could be more precise in differentiating between objective behaviors (i.e. actor perspective) and perceptions thereof (i.e. observer perspective) to understand why women experience a disadvantage in assuming leadership roles.

Although women displayed the same verbal behaviors as men, they experienced different consequences. Organizations can provide unconscious bias training programs, which help increase employees' self-awareness of a potential positive assessment bias toward men's communication.

This research utilizes an innovative, fine-grained coding approach to gather data that add to previous studies showing that, unlike men, women experience a disadvantage in terms of emergent leadership ascriptions when they deviate from stereotypically expected behavior.

Purpose – To trace the rationale, features, development and application of the Balanced Scorecard (BSC) over the past ten years, to provide a critical review of its key problematic effects, and to suggest a future direction. Design/methodology/approach – The shift from the industrial to the innovation economy provides a background to identifying five major problem areas of the BSC which are then discussed with reference to selected case examples. An alternative systemic scorecard is then proposed. Findings – The tyranny of the BSC as a measurement “straightjacket” is beginning to jeopardize the survival of firms, hinders much‐needed business ecosystem innovation, thereby negatively affecting customer value rejuvenation, shareholders' benefits, other stakeholders as well as societal benefits in general. A more systemic alternative is proposed. Research limitations/implications – Future research might focus on further development of the systemic scorecard in different industries and organisational settings with detailed systemic measurement techniques. Practical implications – Rather than relying on the static BSC, it would be more effective to adopt a systemic perspective in measuring/managing intangible assets. Originality/value – An alternative to the BSC is proposed that involves radical change in its underlying assumptions by moving to a more systemic, dynamic framework – a systemic management system, including a systemic scorecard.

Since previous research has mainly focused on “how multinational companies generally practise knowledge management”, this paper seeks to suggest that very little is known of the particularities of knowledge‐sharing and knowledge management practice in the context of a specific country and culture.

It uses an in‐depth case‐research approach focusing specifically on Siemens ShareNet in China. A total of 35 interviews have been conducted with executives, general managers, and line managers within different units at the headquarters as well as in China.

Knowledge management needs to take the cultural dimension into consideration, as culture decisively influences knowledge‐sharing behavior. Potential for knowledge sharing in the emerging market of China is higher than one may expect, if the necessary adjustment to the cultural context can be made.

This research paper investigates a single case focusing on Siemens ShareNet in China. Thus, the findings may have limitations in their generalizability. Any future research needs to pay more attention to both “non‐monetary incentives” and “cultural impact” of knowledge sharing, as theses two issues are of particular value while so far largely unexplored.

Knowledge management officers are able to deepen their understanding of motivations and barriers of knowledge sharing especially in the Chinese context. The paper also demonstrates potentials for hands‐on improvements.

This study reveals that knowledge management needs to take the cultural dimension into consideration, as culture decisively influences knowledge‐sharing behavior. It also indicates that the potential for knowledge sharing in an emerging market such as China is higher than one may expect.

The purpose of the article is to provide managers and academics alike with valuable insights into how global organizations are able to manage innovation by the organization‐wide mobilization of knowledge resources.

This paper is the result of an eight‐year in‐depth theoretical and practical research process mainly undertaken within Siemens AG, and is based on a total of 68 expert interviews conducted with distinguished experts in related fields. Consisting of three phases, the research stretched from analyzing the interrelation of mobility and innovation and deducing case studies towards the development of an integrated model of a mobile company.

In order to leverage on innovation as one of the most important sources of competitiveness and business success, organizations have to abandon outdated organizational models and engage into mobilizing their knowledge resources.

The results of this in‐depth work can be applied to the reality of a global business, networked across organizations, people, borders and cultures. By providing proof of the impact of people and business processes' mobility on knowledge creation, this article shows how to mobilize organizations for innovation and, consequently, value creation by suggesting an advanced organizational model called the “MOBILE company”.

The purpose of this paper, drawing mainly on insights from Foucault and Wittgenstein, is to conceptualise intellectual capital (IC) in very generalist terms as both language game and power in order to initiate a critical understanding of IC.

IC is viewed as knowledge about knowledge, knowledge creation and how such processes might be leveraged into value. It is argued that a critical understanding of IC requires a historical, contextual and linguistic understanding of how IC has emerged and how IC is used. Perceiving IC as language game and power is one way of initiating such critical understanding.

IC is perceived as a social construction and the genealogical focus is on how actors, positions and interests influence this process of social construction.

The paper offers concepts and methods that facilitate historical and contextual research on how IC emerges and how IC is used. Further historical studies are necessary in order to reflect upon and improve extant IC concepts and methods

The paper offers a critical understanding of IC by introducing concepts from the organisational discourse literature. Further it offers practical methodological guidelines for conducting critical genealogical research.

How does one speak of knowledge as an asset when it is non‐rivalrous and ephemeral? The purpose of this paper is to frame “knowledge management” (KM) as significantly more than asset management; instead of binding it to rational decision making, it is grounded in managers' creative responses to the typical deficiencies in their knowledge and to uncertainty.

Drawing on the method of distinctions a knowledge and intellectual capital (IC) management discourse is constructed that relates, first, to data, meaning, and practice, and second, to knowledge assets and knowledge absences.

The rationalist treatment of knowledge assets relates data and meaning to purposive practice. Under conditions of uncertainty this is balanced here with a radical constructivist approach that sees meaning as arising from managerial creativity and exploratory organizational practice.

The practical or managerial implications of this theorizing are legion. The main point is not a theory that supplants managerial creativity; on the contrary, creativity drives both our theory and the organizations that managers manage.

Managing uncertainty forces practice and experience into the foreground. KM and ICM must cover situations in which analysis fails when knowledge is absent just as it covers the management of knowledge assets when they are present.

KM (or ICM) is reframed as an empirically grounded critical theory, a direct critique of rational decision‐making and, by implication, of mainstream managerial theorizing.

Following Marx and Engels' identification of the “essential condition of capital”, the purpose of this paper is to begin an initial critical exploration of the essential condition of intellectual capital, particularly the ownership rights of labour.

Adopting a critically modernist stance on unitarist HR and OB discourse, and contextualised within a background on the stock option phenomenon and recent accounting regulation, the paper argues that the fundamental nature of the capital‐labour relation continues resiliently into the IC labour (intellectual capital‐labour) relation.

There is strong evidence that broad‐based employee stock options (ESOPs) have become institutionalised in certain firms and sectors – but the future of such schemes is very uncertain (post 2005 accounting regulation). Overly unitarist HR/OB arguments are challenged here with empirical evidence on capital's more latently strategic purposes such as conserving cash, reducing reported accounting expense in order to boost reported earnings, deferring taxes, and attracting, retaining and exploiting key elements of labour.

Research supports the positive benefits of broad‐based employee stock ownership schemes. Further research on the benefits of such schemes and the reasons why they are or are not implemented is now required.

From the perspective of labour, nothing appears to have really changed (yet) in terms of the essential condition of intellectual capital.

This paper explicitly raises the issue of the ownership rights of labour to intellectual capital.

The purpose of this paper is to examine a number of key issues relating to intellectual capital disclosure by addressing some of the strengths, weaknesses and gaps of the extant research.

The paper begins by examining the definitions of intellectual capital and intellectual capital disclosure (ICD) currently in use. Methodological issues are examined in relation to the use of source documents, coding frameworks, and research methods. Both positivist and critical theoretical perspectives used to provide the theoretical underpinning of ICD analysis are reviewed.

The paper concludes by arguing for the importance of addressing these issues in order to improve the credibility of ICD, and offers suggestions for doing so.

Numerous suggestions are provided for improving the credibility of future work on IC disclosure

This paper critically examines issues related to improving the credibility of ICD in future research.