4.4 A national intellectual capital across nationsAs described in section 3.3.3, I use data from available sources in combination with the PCA method to build the new index of national intellectual capital (INIC). I utilize data from the World Development Indicators database from the World Bank (2020b). The previous study also used these data sources when determining national indicators as valuable data to be applied (Dutta and Sobel, 2018; Lin and Edvinsson, 2011; Vo, 2008). World Development Indicators database are available for more than 200 countries and territories from 2000 to the present. Hence, I note that the World Development Indicators database is an optimal data source that can be used to construct an index of national intellectual capital across countries at different periods. In this dissertation, data from 104 countries around the world from 2000 to 2018 are utilized.4.4.1 National intellectual capital by regionData is divided into eight regions, and descriptive statistics results are presented in Table 4.3. Africa consists of 21 countries; the Asia-Pacific region contains 23 countries. The European region includes 38 countries, divided into Eastern Europe with 13 countries and the rest of Europe with 25 countries. The Middle East, North America and South America regions have six countries, eight countries and eight countries, respectively. The European region has the highest index of national intellectual capital (INIC) and national intellectual capital components, except relational capital. Meanwhile, Africa is the lowest region in human capital, structural capital and INIC. In contrast, South America has the lowest relational capital.