INTELLECTUAL CAPITAL AND PROFITABILITY: STATE AND PERSPECTIVES OF INSURANCE COMPANIES IN SERBIA

The knowledge-based era requires an increasing application of intellectual capital in knowledge-intensive activities, such as the insurance industry, to gain sustainable competitive advantage and profitability. The paper aims to determine the contribution of intellectual capital and its components to the profitability of in- surance companies in Serbia. The research includes 16 insurance companies in Serbia from 2018 to 2022. Regression analysis was used to test the research hypotheses. The results show that intellectual capital contributes to the profitability of insurance companies, but physical capital still has a dominant influence on profitability. The analysis of intellectual capital components shows that human capital has a greater contribution than structural capital.

Key words: intellectual capital, profitability, insurance companies