the study of relationship between the components of intellectual capital and organizational innovation drivers

intellectual capital is known as a key strategic asset for organizational performance and innovative solutions; and its management is critical for maintaining competitive advantage. this paper analyzes the relationship between intellectual capital, competitive advantage and innovation drivers in 8 factories in rubber and plastics industry. to assess these factors, the views of 246 managers and employees of surveyed companies were obtained by using statistical census. questionnaire was used as the tool for collecting research data. data were analyzed with descriptive and inferential statistical tests. reliability was measured by determining cronbach’s alpha coefficient and confirmed with obtained acceptable figure, while construct validity was measured by kmo & bartlett test. in order to measure content validity, conceptual-superficial method was utilized from which experts' views indicated its validity. to analyze the data, the lisrel 8.8 software was used for testing the research hypotheses. the findings showed a direct relationship between components of intellectual capital (human capital, structural capital, and relational capital) and innovation drivers. also, a direct relationship between components of intellectual capital (human capital, structural capital, and relational capital) and competitive advantage was observed. moreover, a direct relationship between competitive advantages with innovation drivers was revealed indicating that the components of intellectual capital have an indirect relationship with innovation drivers through competitive advantage.