A Bibliometric Analysis of Digital Innovation from 1998 to 2016

Abstract

Digital technologies are ubiquitous in our everyday lives. They have been widely embedded into the core processes of services and products, as well as into the operations of many organizations. These digital technologies bring many changes to our work and lifestyles, to the organization of companies, and even to the structures of whole industries. Thus, digital innovation is a research hotspot. This study investigates the development of digital innovation research using a bibliometric method with visual mapping. The status of digital innovation research is analyzed through citation analysis. Influential references, authors, and top-tier journals are identified. The literature's intellectual structure is mapped through co-word analysis. In addition, co-citation network analysis is used to describe the evolution of digital innovation research, and cluster analysis of the main research stream is conducted. Several research topics addressed by recent papers are also discussed. Finally, cross-country comparisons reveal that the US is currently taking the leading role and that China is a newcomer with potential contributions to make in this research area.