Intellectual capital practices of firms and the commodification of labour
Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal
ISSN: 0951-3574
Article publication date: 4 January 2008
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine the nature and implications of the actual techniques used in the measuring and reporting of intellectual capital.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper takes the form of a literature review.
Findings
The paper demonstrates that the commodification of intellectual capital, rather than solving the contradictions accompanying market value maximisation, simply shifts these contradictions to a new location.
Practical implications
The wide range of intellectual capital definitions, frameworks, and indices allow firms to choose intellectual capital reporting which will justify maximising their market value, resulting in the construction of data in intellectual capital reporting that hides the reality of the commodification of labour.
Originality/value
Commodification of labour through intellectual capital practices is useful to regulators in policy making and accounting standard setting.
Keywords
Citation
Abeysekera, I. (2008), "Intellectual capital practices of firms and the commodification of labour", Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, Vol. 21 No. 1, pp. 36-48. https://doi.org/10.1108/09513570810842313
Publisher
:Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2008, Emerald Group Publishing Limited