The Role of Intellectual Capital in the Italian Municipalities Planning: A Case Study

Planning in local authorities is a process that conditions the achievement of results to the correct execution of a series of demanding activities such as the rigorous analysis of the internal and external environment, the definition and quantification of objectives in indicators and targets, the formulation and the evaluation of alternative policies and the preparation of implementation plans of the chosen policies. In the Italian context, the planning process will be based on the delicate balance between political wishes and the management of the institution. In this process, Intellectual Capital is undoubtedly one of the variables to be considered and governed for the creation of public value. This paper analyses the role of IC in a data set of all Italian municipalities whose population is more than 50,000 inhabitants (149) as they are endowed with a technostructure that allows a planning administrative activity able to fully satisfy the requests dictated by the legislator, in according with the Italian legislative decree n° 118/2011 – Apex 4/1. The analysis carried out aims to verify the extent to which the Intellectual Capital is considered within the planning process of the local authority, highlighting any resistance. Consequently, the aim of this work is to consider how IC contributes to local authority planning and if this creates the conditions to create public value.