The role of intellectual capital in enhancing SMEs’ organizational resilience in postCOVID-19 turbulent times. A research agenda

This paper aims to consolidate fragmented evidence on how intellectual capital enhances organizational resilience in small and medium-sized enterprises operating in global value chains. A critical literature review is conducted through a transparent, theory-informed protocol, and the resulting synthesis develops an integrative framework linking the three components of intellectual capital to three resilience capabilities: anticipatory capacity, adaptive capacity, and situational awareness. The synthesis indicates that human capital strengthens early sensing of disruptions, structured foresight, and rapid adjustment; structural capital enables end-to-end visibility, scenario exploration, and timely reconfiguration of operations; relational capital improves information timeliness and quality, supports joint contingency planning, and facilitates coordinated responses. Resilience emerges from the interaction of these components rather than from any single element and is conditioned by boundary factors such as digital maturity, network governance, and partner concentration. The paper formulates research propositions and offers practical implications for managers and scholars, together with a forward-looking agenda that prioritizes longitudinal inquiry, network-sensitive analyses, and robust operationalization of resilience capabilities for small and medium-sized enterprises.