The capability of organizational innovation: Systematic review of literature and research proposals

Abstract

The capability of organizational innovation is an important factor for the company to achieve a higher competitive performance. Understanding how innovation capability emerges, develops, and applies could bring important managerial and scientific contributions. This study investigates the main research results regarding the capability of organizational innovation, indicating some theoretical propositions for future studies, based on the systematic review of the literature. The research aimed to identify the determinants of organizational innovation capability and the context in which the studies are carried out. We conducted a systematic literature review based on the Web of Science database. We identified and analyzed 33 papers through the analysis of content. This study presents several research results regarding the capability of innovation in organizations, divided into internal, external and determinant aspects of innovation capability, as well as the collection of propositions for guiding a research project in depth in questions to be tested in future research. The study also brings practical contributions, as it shows in which context each study on determinants of identified innovation capability is applied, and points out the importance of innovation capability in small companies and in countries.