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In today’s global economy, knowledge has become the most important capital alternative to
physical and financial capital (Chen et al., 2004). The business environment based on knowledge
requires an approach which includes the new organizational intangible assets like knowledge
and human resources’ competencies, relationships with the customer, organizational culture,
organizational structure, systems, etc. Meanwhile, the intellectual capital theory has attracted
the increasing attention of academic researchers and the organizations themselves (Bontis,
1999).
As early as the 1950s, shortage of physical and financial capital was considered to be the
main factor for underdevelopment in the developing countries. But nowadays, it is quite obvious
that countries which have strong organizations, efficient administrative institutions, and human
capital expertise can attract physical and financial capital too which can be used in accelerating
the process of growth and development. In fact, the intellectual capital is responsible for the
organization’s investment management, and a commercial unit can increase its competitive
advantage in the market by using it, which includes knowledge, information, the rights over
intellectual properties and experience (Stewart, 1997). In the globalized world, the country’s
banking system faces new challenges such as entry of foreign banks. Therefore, to survive and
compete in this dynamic environment, banks need to pay more attention to their human
resources. This requires quantifying the contribution of the intellectual capital in the organization
(Bagheri, 2007; and Fetros and Beigi, 2010).
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