j. risk financial manag. 2024, 17, 192. https://doi.org/10.3390/jrfm17050192 www.mdpi.com/journal/jrfm article the impact of knowledge capital and organization capital on stock performance during economic crises: the moderating role of a generalist ceo chaeho chase lee 1,2, hohyun kim 3 and erdal atukeren 1,* 1 bsl business school lausanne, route de la maladière 21, 1022 chavannes, swierland; chae-ho.lee@bsl-lausanne.ch or echair@stud.assist.ac.kr 2 seoul business school, assist university, 46, ewhayeodae 2-gil, seodaemun-gu, seoul 03767, republic of korea 3 school of management and economics, handong global university, 558, handong-ro, heunghae-eup, buk-gu, pohang-si 37554, gyeongsangbuk-do, republic of korea; hkim@handong.edu * correspondence: erdal.atukeren@bsl-lausanne.ch abstract: this study examines the relationship between intangible capital (ic) and stock perfor-mance during the two recent crisis periods, the gfc and covid-19. by categorizing ic into knowledge capital (kc) and organizational capital (oc), we analyze the impact of each capital on the crisis return in the manufacturing sector. the results show that a greater kc and oc are signif-icantly associated with higher crisis returns during both periods. in addition, we find evidence that generalist ceos strengthen this relationship while specialist ceos do not. within firms led by a generalist ceo, the ceo’s tenure positively moderates the association between each factor of intan-gible capital and crisis period returns. this study emphasizes the pivotal role of kc and oc as a protective buffer against external shocks, particularly when the market pays more aention to cor-porate sustainability. keywords: knowledge capital; organization capital; economic crisis; stock return; generalist ceo; specialist ceo 1. introduction during economic crises, stock prices provide an opportunity to assess a company’s sustainable competitiveness (lins et al. 2017; lome et al. 2016; lu et al. 2022). these eco-nomic crises, characterized by factors such as credit risks, economic lockdowns, and dis-ruptions in global demand and trade, companies face significant threats to their sustaina-bility compared to normal periods (bekaert et al. 2014; ding et al. 2021; fahlenbrach et al. 2021). unexpected declines in overall market trust during crises make shareholders more concerned that the financial information previously relied upon for investment decisions may no longer be reliable or valid. as a result, the extent to which profitability information is reflected in stock prices is limited (lins et al. 2017; yoo et al. 2021). researchers have utilized economic crisis periods as experimental seings to investigate the determinants of corporate sustainability based on investors’ heightened interest in sustainable firms during these periods (rai et al. 2021; su et al. 2022). considering the complementary role of technology and a firm’s inherent competi-tiveness alongside physical capital (pc), which is the primary component of capital in manufacturing, the literature on evaluating the contribution of ic to a company’s com-petitiveness and sustainability emerges (alvino et al. 2021; xu and liu 2021). research on traditional ic has predominantly focused on research and development (r&d) expenses that form kc, limiting the importance of other intangible factors such as human capital, citation: chaeho chase lee, hohyun kim, and erdal atukeren. 2024. the impact of knowledge capital and organization capital on stock performance during economic crises: the moderating role of a generalist ceo. journal of risk and financial management 17: 192. hps://doi.org/10.3390/jrfm17050192 academic editor: m. veysel kaya received: 26 march 2024 revised: 30 april 2024 accepted: 4 may 2024 published: 7 may 2024 j9九游会登录入口首页新版 copyright: © 2024 by the authors. li-censee mdpi, basel, swierland. this article is an open access article distributed under the terms and con-ditions of the creative commons at-tribution (cc by) license (hps://cre-ativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). j. risk financial manag. 2024, 17, 192 2 of 27 innovative products, brands, software, customer relationships, databases, and distribu-tion systems. subsequent studies have expanded the concept of ic through the oc based on selling, general, and administrative (sg&a) expenses (crouzet et al. 2022; lev and ra-dhakrishnan 2005; lev et al. 2009). oc represents unique business processes and know-how that accumulate within a company and key talents, signifying the company’s distinctive competitiveness aributes, including enhanced productivity, innovation capabilities, brand recognition, corporate social responsibility, and sustainability (boubaker et al. 2022; francis et al. 2021). on the other hand, kc signifies a company’s ability to innovate products and processes, forming the foundation for long-term competitive advantage and sustainability (chiu et al. 2021; hegde and mishra 2023). in alignment with pete