EFFECTS OF INTELLECTUAL CAPITAL EFFICIENCY ON SHAREHOLDERS’ VALUES OF LISTED INDUSTRIAL GOODS FIRMS IN NIGERIA

ABSTRACT The shift from industrial based economy to knowledge-based economy has reemphasized the relevance of intellectual capital in value creation. Despite this shift, traditional accounting has continued to focus more on the physical assets in their financial statements to the exclusion of intellectual capital. The main objective of this study was to examine the effect of Intellectual capital efficiency on shareholders’ value of industrial goods firms in Nigeria. The independent variables being intellectual capital efficiency was proxied by human capital efficiency, relational capital efficiency and structural capital efficiency while the dependent variable being shareholders’ value was proxied by dividend yield. The research design adopted for the study was ex post facto, secondary data were used and the population of the study consisted of 13 listed industrial goods companies out of which a sample size of 11 was purposively selected. The data used in this study was analyzed using ordinary least square regression analysis and the statistical package employed was STATA version 10. The result of the analysis revealed that human capital efficiency has significant positive effect on dividend yield of listed industrial goods firms in Nigeria; relational capital efficiency has significant and positive effect on dividend yield; structural capital efficiency has significant but negative effect on dividend yield. It was therefore concluded that intellectual capital efficiency significantly improves shareholders value of listed industrial goods firms in Nigeria. Based on the findings of this study, it was recommended among others that the management of industrial goods firms should continuously invest in human capital development including training programs, professional growth opportunities, and performance-based incentives.