ABSTRACT
This chapter aims to analyse the levers and barriers to the implementation of intellectual capital (IC) reports from a longitudinal perspective, thus contributing to the third stage of IC research. It conductes a field study, which is "a research design that embraces a relatively small number of companies, as opposed to a wide-ranging survey or intensive case enquiries in two or three companies" in order to gather insights into levers and barriers to the implementation of IC reports. Considering the ad hoc implementation of IC reporting practices, the name and number of companies that have ever produced an IC report in Italy is unknown. A review of national and international publications within the IC field was carried out using SCOPUS, Google books, and Google libri. Respondents offered different reasons for the abandonment of IC reports, including: restructuring processes; the financial crisis and the related need to cut costs; and the inability of IC reports to fulfil their initial aims.
