Managing human capital in a privately owned public hotel chain

The study sought to explain human capital (HC) management practices in the context of intellectual capital (IC) value creation in a small privately owned public hotel group. This exploratory study examined how this group of hotels manages HC to maximize its value creation. Although past literature has highlighted how firms measure and report HC, few studies have examined their management practices of HC. This study addressed such management practices using multiple data methods (observation, interaction with staff, internal financial and management reports, and semi-structured case study interviews) over one year on a continuous basis. Results indicate that this group of hotels engaged in value extraction rather than value creation to maximize its IC value creation. The study identified several possible causes for such HC management practices.