Case Study in Intellectual Capital and Territorial Development: Analysing Portuguese Local Governments WEB Pages

Abstract

Multiple authors argue that the digital infrastructure of municipalities and regions, such as websites, have an important role to play in local and regional development since they enable the access and sharing of information, knowledge and the provision of certain services. Functioning as an entrance way to a territory, the websites provide important contributions in the knowledge and intellectual capital management activities. In this sense, an evaluation of websites is a core activity for the updating of content and delivery of services, contributing to their best management in the context of e-government. However, there are a limited number of studies on evaluation of websites from the perspective of intellectual capital, although the importance of this asset, either in business or public sector, and also to the development of territories is recognized. So, this study intend to show the importance of intellectual capital in the public sector, more specifically on local government, by assessing the intellectual capital of its web pages by implementing a model of intellectual capital for the public sector.