Citation: Lasisi, Taiwo T., Elena I. Lazareva, Gor A. Abramyan, Julia V. Gavrilova, and Anton D. Murzin. 2023. Intellectual Capital and Technology as Factors of Career Success: Role of Income Inequality. Economies 11: 63. https://doi.org/ 10.3390/economies11020063 Academic Editor: Joydeep Bhattacharya Received: 26 November 2022 Revised: 13 January 2023 Accepted: 17 January 2023 Published: 14 February 2023 Copyright: © 2023 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https:// creativecommons.org/licenses/by/ 4.0/). economies Article Intellectual Capital and Technology as Factors of Career Success: Role of Income Inequality Taiwo T. Lasisi 1, * , Elena I. Lazareva 1 , Gor A. Abramyan 1 , Julia V. Gavrilova 1 and Anton D. Murzin 2 1 Department of Innovation and International Management, Southern Federal University, 344006 Rostov-on-Don, Russia 2 Department of Spatial Economic Systems Development Management, Southern Federal University, 344006 Rostov-on-Don, Russia * Correspondence: ttlasisi@gelisim.edu.tr or lasisi@sfedu.ru Abstract: The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UNSDGs) elaborately promote “sustained, inclusive, and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment, and decent work for all” (Goal 8: SDGs). Considering that there has not been any cross-country comparison of the role of intellectual capital in career success, this study examines the nexus between intellectual capital and career success through the channels of income inequality, information, and communication technology from 1997 to 2018 for six European Economic Area (EEA) countries with high human development index (HDI). Using the Pooled Mean Group Autoregressive distributive lag model, results show that there is a positive and linear relationship between intellectual capital, income inequality, information and communication technology, and career success in the long run. Findings from the causality test reveal there is one-way causality running from information and communication technology and career success as well as intellectual capital to career success. These findings suggest that intellectual capital is important for career success; therefore, policymakers need to invest in developing and improving intellectual capital to ensure objective career success among the nationals. Keywords: career success; technology; PMG-ARDL; income inequality; intellectual capital 1. Introduction The subject of sustainability continues to gain attention because of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 2030 agenda that was launched in 2015. It concludes with universal and global indicators for international cooperation as well as collaboration with the private sector, multilateral institutions, civil society, and governments (Secundo et al. 2020). The SDGs aim to find effective solutions and multidisciplinary approaches to some complex issues and challenges such as food security, ecosystem resilience, migration, pollution, climate change, energy, etc. (Birtchnell et al. 2017). Following this discourse, some scholars have considered human development (Waldmüller et al. 2019) and intellectual capital (Suciu and Năsulea 2019) as important links needed to fulfill the SDGs. Studies such as (Suciu and Năsulea 2019) have maintained that intellectual capital is the most important and prevailing driver of inclusive, sustainable, smart social and economic development. Achieving sustainability is dependent on social innovations and technology (Sheikh 2021), and a relationship between social innovation has been linked with intellectual capital (Sheikh 2021) and employability (which results in career success) (van der Heijde and van der Heijde and van der Heijden 2014). Intellectual capital, within the modern knowledge economy (Cinquini et al. 2012), indicates the transition to competitive, innovative, and sustainable development (Martins et al. 2019). People are considered the “engine” of sustainable development growth because the skills they possess are crucial resources to the economy. Intellectual capital is a set of proficiencies and experiences of employees in an organization/country, which has the Economies 2023, 11, 63. https://doi.org/10.3390/economies11020063 https://www.mdpi.com/journal/economies