Investigating the Effect of Intellectual Capital on Cost Stickiness of Listed Companies in the Tehran Stock Exchange

The purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of intellectual capital on the cost stickiness of listed companies in the Tehran Stock Exchange (TSE). In this study, by reviewing cost stickiness theory, a complex pattern of asymmetric behavior of costs is rendered with emphasis on the role of the intellectual capital introduced by Pulic (2000). The research period is related to the span of 2005-2015. The statistical sample consists of 111 companies (1110 year-firm) listed on the TSE. The independent variable of this study includes intellectual capital and its’ components. The dependent variable encompasses selling, general and administrative costs. The intensity of staff, assets, reduction in revenue, and growth of the domestic production are considered as control variables. Panel data andmultiple linear regression analysis were used to test the research hypotheses. Data was analyzed by using panel data method. The results indicate a significant relationship and a pattern of the anti-stickiness between the intellectual capital and selling, general and administrative costs, for the components of the intellectual capital, a significant an anti-cost-stickness behavior persist, and the most effective component among the intellectual capital is related to the structural capital. Furthermore, the level of anti-cost-stickness in companies with a high intellectual capital is higher. The most significant effect among the components of the intellectual capital is related to the firms which maintain the higher coefficient of the efficiency in the human capital.