Blockchain Digital Assets, Intellectual Capital Efficiency, and Firm Performance: The Moderating Role of Ownership Concentration in Blockchain-Adopting Firms

The increasing adoption of blockchain technologies raises scholars’ and managers’ concerns over how digital resources, intellectual capital and corporate governance jointly affect firm performance. However, there has been conflicting evidence on blockchain adoption’s performance implications, while studies on intellectual capital efficiency and ownership concentration are either scattered or context-specific. Furthermore, existing research rarely investigates these factors together, leaving little knowledge about their combined effects on firm performance. To fill this gap, we examine the association of blockchain digital assets and the Value-Added Intellectual Coefficient (VAIC™) with firm performance, and we explore the potential moderating role of one corporate governance characteristic, ownership concentration. Drawing on Agency Theory and the Resource-Based View and Transaction Cost Theory, the study examines whether blockchain digital assets are associated with firm performance. The prior literature suggests that blockchain may enhance organizational efficiency and reduce information asymmetry; however, these mechanisms are not directly tested in the present study. The study also treats intellectual capital as a strategic organizational asset whose contribution to firm performance may be strengthened or constrained by governance mechanisms such as ownership concentration. Using a panel of 94 blockchain-adopting public firms from various industries over 2013–2022, the study employs the System Generalized Method of Moments (SGMM) to control for endogeneity, unobserved heterogeneity and the dynamic nature of firm performance. The results indicate that blockchain digital assets are positively associated with firm performance. This association is most robust for market-based performance (Tobin’s Q); the association with accounting-based performance (Return on Assets, ROA, and Return on Equity, ROE) is weaker and sensitive to the choice of instruments and to industry and country effects. The direct effect of VAIC™ is generally insignificant and inconsistent across the estimated models. Ownership concentration does not strengthen the relationship between firm performance and blockchain digital assets. However, in the main specification, it is positive and strengthens the relationship between intellectual capital efficiency and accounting-based firm performance: the interaction between VAIC™ and ownership concentration is positive and significant for ROA and ROE, although this result is not confirmed in models with a reduced number of instruments. There is no such effect in the relationship between intellectual capital and Tobin’s Q. The study contributes to the literature a framework that integrates blockchain digital assets, intellectual capital efficiency and ownership concentration. It expands on Agency Theory by examining whether the observed relationships are consistent with theoretical arguments concerning information asymmetry, enriches the Resource-Based View by conceptualizing blockchain digital assets as strategic resources, and relates the findings to Transaction Cost Theory. However, the underlying mechanisms are not directly examined. In practice, these findings can guide managers, investors and policymakers in aligning digital transformation, intellectual capital and governance for improved firm performance.