Digitalization: A Wide-Ranging Bibliometric Study of Contemporary Trends

Abstract

Abstract The expansion of digitalization research is a reflection of the growing significance of digital technologies across a range of sectors and industries. This paper provides a comprehensive bibliometric analysis of digitalization using Web of Science database, covering 4646 scientific articles published in the period 2018-2022. The purpose of the paper is to identify and synthesize the existing body of knowledge and the emerging trends of research in the field of digitalization based on a literature review. The bibliometric analysis was performed using VOSviewer, Rstudio and Bibliometrix/Biblioshiny to evaluate and illustrate the bibliographic materials. Using performance analysis and science mapping, we illustrate the cooccurrence of key-words, co-citation, co-authorship and the evolution of research themes, in order to identify the thematic clusters. The analysis identified key themes and topics that are frequently discussed in the literature, including the use of digital technologies in business and management, the technological aspects of digitization, and its impact on society and the economy. The aspects related to the interdisciplinary nature of the research in the field of digitalization, emphasizing the need for a more collaborative and interdisciplinary approach to understanding and addressing the challenges and opportunities of digitalization, are presented and discussed within the paper. For clustering, we performed an exploratory factor analysis that identified emerging trends in the study of digitalization: work, automation and employment is one area, another one is related to growth and consumption and the third theme is related to dynamic capabilities, firm performance and technologies.