Design Thinking and teamwork—measuring impact: a systematic literature review

Abstract Research has significantly advanced the understanding of the benefits that Design Thinking can offer organizations and firmly established the importance of effective teams for them. Yet, a critical inquiry remains: What specific benefits does Design Thinking confer upon teamwork and its outcomes? This article conducts a systematic review, synthesizing empirical evidence from literature to address this question. The analysis reveals the diverse impact of Design Thinking on team interactions, skills, tasks and activities, values, emotions and mindset, and team composition as well as performance. Furthermore, this study explores how Design Thinking's influence on teams can contribute to cultural change within organizations and discusses both the limitations and prerequisites of this method. Suggestions on how future research can proceed are provided, and practical implications that can enhance the implementation of design methods in organizations are highlighted.