A Structural Equation Model of Intellectual Capital for Empowerment in Universities

The purpose of the present study was to provide a structural equation model of intellectual capital for empowerment in universities. The population of the research included all employees of Islamic Azad University (IAU) in Iran. 1906 employees were selected using stratified and cluster random sampling method. The research instruments were two questionnaires which were administered in 89 IAU branches and education centers: Bontis's (1997) intellectual capital questionnaire which consisted of 52 items with three underlying constructs of human capital, customer capital, and structural capital and Cronbach Alpha of 0.95; and Spreitzer's (1995) empowerment questionnaire which consisted of 12 items with four underlying constructs of meaning, competence, self-determination, and impact and Cronbach Alpha of 0.84. The results of path analysis using LISREL software indicated that dimensions of intellectual capital had a direct effect on empowerment with the indices of 0.92. The model also showed that the factor of customer capital in intellectual capital had the highest direct effect on the factor of meaning in empowerment.