Investigation of the relationship between intellectual capital, innovation performance, firm performance and competitive advantage in the construction sector

In today's information and technology age, the need for information is increasing, it is becoming more difficult for firms to keep pace with rapidly changing technological developments, and traditional financial resources of firms are losing their importance over time, and the concepts of innovation and creativity, intellectual capital, intangible assets, and knowledge management are gaining importance. The construction sector has a strategic role in economic development due to its unique characteristics. It consists of many phases of construction, including new ideas, new designs, materials, technologies and construction methods. Construction companies should focus on the importance of intellectual capital and adopt innovation in order to develop new technology and use it effectively, create competitive advantage in the long term and provide the expected benefits. This study presents a theoretical model to investigate the relationship between intellectual capital, innovation performance, firm performance and competitive advantage in the Turkish construction sector. The study also examines the mediating role of innovation performance in the effect of intellectual capital on competitive advantage and firm performance. The information required for the study was collected through a questionnaire survey based on the data obtained from the literature review. The results show that there are positive relationships between intellectual capital, innovation performance, firm performance and competitive advantage in the Turkish construction sector. In addition, innovation performance has a positive and low level mediating effect on the relationship between intellectual capital and competitive advantage and firm performance, similarly, competitive advantage has a positive and low level mediating effect on the relationship between intellectual capital and firm performance.