A PRISMA-Informed Systematic Review on Digital Innovation: Insights from SMEs and Incumbents

With roots in IS literature, digital innovation has become a common theme for researchers from a wide range of fields. Despite the availability of plenty of research on digital innovation, however, the literature seems to lack adequate/sufficient research on its antecedents; i.e. the initial factors that affect digital innovation. Besides that, examination of SMEs and incumbent firms in terms of the conditions and factors that affect digital innovation is also lacking. Hence, this paper aims to understand and explain the antecedents of digital innovation and to distinguish SMEs and incumbent firms from this perspective, asking the following two research questions: 1. What is known, so far, about the antecedents of digital innovation in SMEs and in incumbent firms? and 2. Which theories and approaches have been used to study digital innovation in SMEs and/or in incumbent firms? With this purpose, the paper systematically reviews the related literature on the antecedents of digital innovation following PRISMA (The Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses) statement set forth by Liberati et al. (2009) and it presents comprehensive answers to the research questions by a meticulous examination of 47 papers out of an initial set of 189 papers. The paper concludes by providing thoughts on future research opportunities for scholars of digital innovation.