Evolution and Perspectives in IT Governance: A Systematic Literature Review

Abstract

The study presents a systematic review of the state of the art on Information Technology (IT) governance research. Following the PRISMA 2020 protocol and drawing on Scopus and Web of Science, covering publications from 1999 to May 2025, 380 relevant articles were identified, analysed and categorised. A bibliometric analysis supported by tools such as VOSviewer and SciMaT mapped the principal thematic strands, influential authors and institutions, and revealed research gaps. The results indicate a consolidated field in which resource allocation, industrial management, strategic alignment and board-level IT governance operate as driving themes, while information management, the configuration of the IT function and the regulatory nexus between laws and information security remain emerging areas. The conclusions emphasise the theoretical implications of clarifying how IT governance shapes IT investment and initiative prioritisation, sectoral configurations and strategic alignment, and the practical implications of using these mechanisms to design and refine governance structures, processes and metrics in regulated organisations so that value creation risk control and accountability are more explicitly aligned.