Managing intellectual capital through a proper building configuration

This paper takes a look at a totally different type of resource to improve the management of intellectual capital because it describes the physical work environment instead of the more often studied organisational/social work environment. It identifies physical aspects that stimulate both sharing human capital (called socialisation) and the transformation of human capital into organisational capital (externalisation). An extensive content analysis has been made of literature from very different research areas, e.g., innovation, knowledge management, environmental psychology, real estate, and design. These research areas have not been brought together in this context before. The identified real estate aspects that affect intellectual capital management deal with configuration of the building design. The underlying mechanism appears to be visual contact. This mechanism must therefore be converted into clear implications for designing co-presence and movement paths of employees.