The Impact of Intellectual Capital Efficiency on Corporate Sustainable Growth-Evidence from Smart Agriculture in China

Abstract

In this paper, we expand the value-added intellectual coefficient (VAIC) model by constructing a comprehensive financial capital (FC) component. Human capital efficiency is subdivided into executive (EHCE) and nonexecutive human capital efficiency (NHCE). We have sampled listed agriculture companies (LAC) in China’s Shanghai and Shenzhen A-share markets from 2009 to 2018 and categorized them as high-tech (HTAC) and non-high-tech agriculture companies (NHTAC). We find that capital employed efficiency (CEE) and EHCE have a significant positive effect on corporate sustainable growth (CSG) of HTAC but no significant effect on CSG of NHTAC, while FC has a significant positive effect on both. These results suggest that companies, especially HTAC, should invest in human capital, and their executives and policymakers should develop effective knowledge management tools and begin accumulating the necessary intellectual capital to allow adaptation to their changing environment. In the spirit of the intellectual agriculture concept, we present some new ways to study the performance of agricultural companies using intellectual capital and offer suggestions that can help to modernize the industry.