Intellectual Capital as a Significant Competitiveness Factor of the Polish Regions in 2016-2020

Abstract

The main purpose of this article is to identify the cause-effect relationships between intellectual capital of the Polish regions and their competitive position. This study applies PLS-PM method. The obtained results confirmed that intellectual capital is an important factor of regional competitiveness. The greatest impact on the competitive position of the Polish regions in 2019 turned out to be activity capital and knowledge capital, which affected image capital. Image capital could explain competitive position of the Polish regions do the tune of 88,1% (R2 = 0,881). The research confirmed that the highest level of intellectual capital has the Mazowieckie, which is the most competitive Polish region among other. Finally, the conducted research showed that the components of intellectual capital of the Polish regions identified as important factors of regional competitiveness in 2019 were also important factors of competitiveness in the three preceding years (2016, 2017, 2018) and in 2020.