Presenting a model of the impact of social and intellectual capital on improving productivity and production rates in manufacturing companies in Mazandaran province

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

• Ali Babaie Karnami ¹
• Seyyed Ali Nabavi Chashmi ²
• Ali Sorayai ³

¹ Department of Industrial Management, Babol Branch, Islamic Azad University, Babol, Iran.

² epartment of Department of Financial Management, Babol Branch, Islamic Azad University, Babol, Iran

³ epartment of Industrial Management, Babol Branch, Islamic Azad University, Babol, Iran.Iran

Abstract

Keywords

• Social Capital
• Intellectual Capital
• Productivity Rate
• Production Rate

20.1001.1.20084838.1402.54.1.17.2

Main Subjects

• Agricultural Economics, Extension and Education, Development, , ....

Extended Abstract

Objective

In the era of technology and information revolution, new organizations and companies need to be superior to the emerging changes and developments around them. Undoubtedly, the ability and special skills of employees help to achieve such goals. One of the important goals of today's organizations is to reduce costs, improve product quality, innovate in providing services, and improve productivity and efficiency so that organizations can find a suitable position in their business environment and field of activity and thus, to succeed in finding a position. Improving productivity at the organizational level is considered a vital factor of success and the basis of profitability. Also, measures related to productivity seek to reduce costs and increase quality, and as a result, increase the income of the organization or company, and in this way, productivity is the relationship between output (such as the amount of products or services) and data, (such as labor, materials, energy and capital) which is spent on production. One of the factors that can be effective in improving productivity is social and intellectual capital. Today, investment in social and intellectual capitals, as key factors in the process of economic growth and development, has a significant contribution and is considered a serious issue in the economy, while in the past, it was only physical capital that was discussed and investigated as a factor of growth and development. By reviewing the conducted researches, it can be claimed that no research has been done on the impact of social and intellectual capitals on improving productivity and production rates in industrial companies, so it is necessary to conduct the present research. Therefore, the current research sought to answer this question: What is the model of the impact of social and intellectual capital on improving productivity and production rates in industrial companies in Mazandaran province?

Method

   The present applied study adopted a descriptive survey to conduct the study. Its statistical population consisted of industrial companies of Mazandaran province, which had 217 managers. Due to the fact that among the industrial companies of Mazandaran province, only ten companies provided the researcher with information on the production rate and productivity, so the researcher determined the number of managers of these ten companies, which were 94 people, using the census sampling method and were considered as the statistical sample. In order to collect data, the social capital researcher-made questionnaire with 55 questions and the intellectual capital researcher-made questionnaire with 50 questions were used. The face and content validity of the tools were approved by the experts and their reliability were also calculated using Cronbach's alpha coefficient leading to 0.93 for the social capital questionnaire and 0.89 for the intellectual capital questionnaire. The structural equation test was used to analyze the data.

Results

   The research findings were presented in descriptive and inferential parts. In the descriptive part, the demographic findings showed that 87.2% of the statistical sample were men and 12.8% were women, 6.4% of the statistical sample were in the age group of less than 40 years, 43.6% were in the age group of 40 to 50 years and 50% were in the age group above 50 years, 4.2% of the statistical sample had less than 10 years of work experience, 41.5% had 10 to 20 years of experience, and 54.3% had more than 20 years of work experience, and also 24. 50% of the statistical sample had a master's degree and 75.5% has a doctoral degree.

The social capital variable had a mean of 3.518 and a standard deviation of 0.489. Among the dimensions of social capital, the highest average (3.533) was related to the communication dimension and the lowest average (3.504) was related to the organizational dimension. Among the components of social capital, the highest average (3.664) was related to the social obligations component and the lowest average (3.396) was related to the organizational structure component. The intellectual capital variable had a mean of 3.826 and a standard deviation of 0/602. Among the dimensions of intellectual capital, the highest average (3.895) was related to the individual dimension and the lowest average (3.757) was related to the organizational dimension. Among the components of intellectual capital, the highest average (3.975) was related to the intellectual property component and the lowest average (3.456) was related to the organizational learning component.

Discussion

   The results of this research showed that the impact of social and intellectual capital on improving productivity and production rates in industrial companies of Mazandaran province was positive and significant. In explaining this finding, it can be said that one of the effects of social capital is increasing the productivity of organizations. In industrial organizations, social capital is an important source of productivity. Therefore, it can be acknowledged that the lack or weakness of social capital in industrial companies in intra-organizational relations will lead to the stagnation of the company. It is suggested that to involve employees in organizational decisions, because when employees are involved in decisions, they are more likely to accept the decisions, even if they are decisions that they do not agree with, because participation creates this desire in them. to see beyond their personal interest, see the bigger picture and consider themselves to belong to the group; institutionalize a cooperative and supportive culture in the company; develop network relationships in companies and use appropriate information channels that will increase social capital. It is also necessary to strengthen each of the dimensions of social and intellectual capital and to make structural reforms in processes, regulations, operational plans, infrastructures, work methods, employee training, service delivery methods and addressing needs.