Enhancing Organizational Performance of Nepalese Commercial Banks Through Intellectual Capital

Intellectual capital is becoming increasingly important for a company's competitive advantage and financial as well as non-financial performance. The COVID-19 pandemic has had an impact on organizations' intellectual resources and performance, and little is known about how the company managed various intangible resources during that time. As a result, the focus of this study was on the impact of intellectual capital on the performance of Nepalese commercial banks before and during COVID-19. Quantitative and qualitative data were gathered through an in-depth interview with experienced and knowledgeable bank managers and a structured questionnaire for bank employees. The associations hypothesized were investigated with the help of the structural equation modelling (PLS) technique. The findings demonstrated a connection between both culture and trust and all Intellectual Capital (IC) components; human, structural, and relational capital. The result also demonstrated that while only structural capital had a significant impact on financial performance, all IC components are linked to non-financial performance. The study also looked at how competitive advantage mediates the relationship of intellectual capital with banks' financial and non-financial performance. It was found that competitive advantage mediated banks' non-financial performance more effectively than financial performance. Lastly, the results showed that the COVID-19 effect moderated but had minimal impact on the relationship between intellectual capital components and financial performance. Furthermore, recommendations were provided for organizations and banks to enhance and utilize their intellectual capital to achieve the best performance.