Strategic human resource practices and new product development performance: the mediating role of intellectual capital

PurposeThe paper investigates the effects of strategic human resource practices on intellectual capital and new product development performance in knowledge-based firms.Design/methodology/approachA quantitative approach was adopted to conduct the present study. The respondents were sampled from knowledge-based firms in Iran. Overall, 120 managers in 60 knowledge-based firms were selected using convenience sampling. A confirmatory factor analysis was conducted to ascertain the validity and reliability of the observed items, and a structural equation model was employed for testing the proposed hypotheses.FindingsIn the studied firms, strategic human resource practices have a positive and significant effect on intellectual capital. Moreover, the findings of this study indicate that those firms that use their intellectual capital have a higher new product development performance.Research limitations/implicationsThe study focuses on knowledge-based firms in Iran, which limits the generalizability of the research results. Therefore, future studies should be carried out with samples from other settings and countries. Moreover, as the study was cross-sectional, the causal relationships could not be inferred directly.Practical implicationsWith regard to key areas of improvement identified in this study, knowledge-based firms should focus on increasing new product development performance by improving employees' training, involving them in their job-related decision-making process, empowering employees to innovate, developing intellectual capital and monitoring the customer's satisfaction level of new products.Originality/valueThe study extends the intellectual capital literature by linking strategic human resource practices to new product development performance in knowledge-based firms via intellectual capital as a mediator.