Mapping the evolving intellectual structure of digital innovation research on the public sector: A Document Co-citation Analysis

Abstract

This paper uses document co-citation analysis (DCA) to explore the underlying and evolving structure of research on digital innovation (DI) in the public sector. As such, the DCA examines (1) what streams of scientific literature have been used in scholarly practices of citation in the study of innovation in the domain of e-government; (2) which are the central documents in the identified research streams and; (3) whether the emerging academic contributions around DI has had an impact on this field of research. Through the DCA of 1082 peer-reviewed papers three clusters of citation are identified, mapped, and categorized as: E-government diffusion and effects; Technology acceptance and adoption; and Digital innovation and infrastructures. The first two clusters are found to be tightly coupled while the last is found to currently be infrequently connected to either clusters. Implications for research and practice are presented and discussed.