Digital Transformation in Business and Management Research: Bibliometric and Co-word Network Analysis

Abstract

In recent years, the concept of digital transformation has gained increasing interest from both researchers and practitioners, resulting in emerging independent research areas. Despite several literature reviews being conducted, little research has objectively provided an analysis of the literature with the focus only on the specific word “digital transformation” as different terms might lead to a biased understanding. This paper aims to objectively explore digital transformation as a field in business and management research. The bibliometric and co-word network analysis were used to objectively identify influential articles, and provide the analysis of the intellectual structure. The results indicate that this research field is an emerging field that started to grow rapidly in the last three to four years. Despite its short history, research themes in this field are diverse, including key enabling technologies of digital transformation, business model innovation, digital platform, and value creation of digital transformation. Among all, an emerging theme seems to be Internet of Things and digital twin. This provides an initial suggestion on potential future research themes in this field.