Intellectual capital and subscription rate: an empirical investigation in the Indian initial public offering market

Purpose This study aims to investigate the impact of intellectual capital (IC) on investor demand (i.e. subscription rate). The rise of the knowledge economy motivates us to investigate how the value added by the IC of the issuing firms affects potential investors’ responses. Design/methodology/approach This study investigates the impact of IC on initial public offering (IPO) subscription rates using 234 IPOs from March 31, 2010 to March 31, 2021. This study uses multivariate regression, including year and industry dummies, and conduct robustness tests with industry subsamples. Additionally, this paper uses an alternative demand proxy (i.e. listing day returns) and two-staged least squares to address endogeneity. Findings This paper documents an inverse relationship between investor demand and human capital efficiency alongside a positive correlation between investor demand and structural capital efficiency. Additionally, IC efficiency positively affects listing day returns, with individual investor demand significantly driven by institutional investors. Originality/value This study uses Pulic’s (2000) methodology for measuring IC and examines whether it reduces information asymmetry in the IPO market and encourages investors to subscribe to an issue. This study holds significant implications for IPO issuing firms, investors and regulators regarding the IC disclosure in the prospectus.