Institutional voids in supply chains and digital transformation: returning to the roots to reframe the future

Despite growing interest in institutional voids within supply chain management and digital transformation, existing research remains theoretically limited. This study examines how institutional voids are conceptualized at the intersection of supply chain management and digital transformation. We conduct a systematic literature review of 56 peer-reviewed journal articles published between 2009 and 2025 and indexed in Scopus. Through a structured synthesis of this body of work, we analyze how the literature has evolved and where key theoretical limitations persist. The analysis identifies three research waves: an initial focus on institutional voids as barriers to supply chain functioning; a subsequent shift toward framing voids as opportunities for market expansion, frequently in bottom-of-the-pyramid contexts; and a more recent emphasis on digital transformation as a mechanism for navigating institutional weaknesses. Across these waves, our findings reveal chronic challenges, including the generic use of institutional voids as a proxy for the Global South and the under-theorization of informal institutional dynamics. We show that institutional voids are better understood as dynamic and socially embedded phenomena that co-evolve with technological adoption and strategic responses in supply chains. We present five research propositions and introduce a framework that explains how institutional conditions, digital transformation, and supply chain practices interact and recursively reshape one another over time. This study contributes to the literature by reconnecting institutional voids research with its seminal theoretical foundations, challenging normative development assumptions embedded in mainstream operations scholarship, and outlining a future research agenda grounded in context-sensitive, process-oriented institutional analysis. The findings also offer insights for practitioners who seek to leverage digital transformation to enhance supply chain resilience while refraining from reinforcing exclusionary or institutionally fragile outcomes.