Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the relationship between intellectual capital and firm capital structure by exploring whether firm profitability and risk are drivers of this relationship.

Design/methodology/approach

Based on a comprehensive data set of Italian firms over the 2008–2017 period, this paper examines whether intellectual capital affects firm financial leverage. Moreover, it analyzes whether firm profitability and risk mediate the abovementioned relationship. Financial leverage is measured by the debt/equity ratio. Intellectual capital is measured via the value-added intellectual coefficient approach.

Findings

The findings show that firms with a high level of intellectual capital have lower financial leverage and are more profitable and riskier than firms with a low level of intellectual capital. Furthermore, this study finds that firm profitability and risk mediate the relationship between intellectual capital and financial leverage. Thus, the higher profitability and risk of intellectual capital-intensive firms help explain their lower financial leverage.

Research limitations/implications

The findings have several implications. From a theoretical standpoint, the paper presents and tests a mediating model of the relationship between intellectual capital and financial leverage and its underlying processes. In terms of the more general managerial implications, the results provide managers with a clear interpretation of the relationship between intellectual capital and financial leverage and point to the need to strengthen the capital structure of intangible-intensive firms.

Originality/value

Through a mediation framework, this study provides empirical evidence on the relationship between intellectual capital and firm financial leverage by exploring the underlying mechanisms behind that relationship, which is a novel approach in the literature.

中文翻译：

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智力资本会影响企业的资本结构吗？探索企业风险和盈利能力的作用

目的

本文的目的是通过探讨企业盈利能力和风险是否是这种关系的驱动因素来分析智力资本与企业资本结构之间的关系。

设计/方法/方法

基于 2008 年至 2017 年期间意大利公司的综合数据集，本文研究了智力资本是否影响公司财务杠杆。此外，分析了企业盈利能力和风险是否在上述关系中起中介作用。财务杠杆是通过债务/权益比率来衡量的。智力资本是通过智力附加值系数法来衡量的。

发现

研究结果表明，与智力资本水平低的公司相比，智力资本水平高的公司财务杠杆较低，利润更高，风险更大。此外，本研究发现，公司盈利能力和风险在智力资本与财务杠杆之间的关系中起中介作用。因此，智力资本密集型公司较高的盈利能力和风险有助于解释其较低的财务杠杆。

研究限制/影响

这些发现有几个含义。从理论的角度来看，本文提出并检验了智力资本与财务杠杆及其潜在过程之间关系的中介模型。在更一般的管理影响方面，结果为管理者提供了对智力资本与财务杠杆之间关系的清晰解释，并指出需要加强无形密集型企业的资本结构。

原创性/价值

通过中介框架，本研究通过探索这种关系背后的潜在机制，为智力资本与企业财务杠杆之间的关系提供了经验证据，这是文献中的一种新方法。