PurposeThe purpose of this article is to investigate the interrelationships between innovation climate and human capital in the development of dynamic capabilities related to innovation. The study presents a set of concepts about variables involved in the innovation process and their interrelationship, addressing the analysis of international scientific production related to the antecedents of the innovation climate, human capital and dynamic capabilities.Design/methodology/approachA review of the literature from 1998 to 2018 was carried out, using descriptive statistical methods, at first, and qualitative analysis of the results in order to visualize the current configuration of the field of study of innovation background.FindingsThe results demonstrate a significant number of studies relating human capital and dynamic capabilities and little quantitative significance in studies relating to a climate of innovation and dynamic capabilities. The research describes how the dynamic capabilities of innovation have been approached in a conceptual model based on the perspective of human capital and innovation climate.Research limitations/implicationsThe study did not contemplate the analysis of the interrelationship between the resource configuration construct and the dynamic innovation capacities (part of the gap pointed out by Tuzovic, Wirtz and Heracleous (2018), constituting a perceptible limitation of the analyzes carried out in this article.Practical implicationsThe influence of the innovation climate construct and its relationship with dynamic innovation capabilities deserves greater attention in research with an empirical approach, constituting a field to be explored by scientific research in organizations.Originality/valueThe research sought to investigate the gap involving the interrelations between innovation climate and human capital in the development of dynamic capabilities related to innovation, indicating the need for further empirical studies on the subject.