An overview of the consumer‐centric disruptive technology research: Insights from topic modelling and literature review

Abstract

This review aims to assess the most prevalent disruptive technologies of the past decade and evaluate them from a dual perspective. This study utilises the technology life cycle framework to classify disruptive technologies into three phases, (i) emerging, (ii) industry, and (iii) customer‐focused research outcomes. Subsequently, entities using six thematic categories via topic modelling are assessed to determine the research trajectory about customers, industries, and theory. The present study utilises the Latent Dirichlet Allocation framework for topic modelling, a quantitative tool that employs advanced statistical methodology to extract semantic knowledge from large text corpora. This approach offers a more comprehensive and insightful categorisation of information compared to traditional research review models such as archive review, meta‐review analysis, and systematic literature review. After the review, over 750 articles were analysed and classified according to their unique themes and technological emphasis. The study suggests practical applications that could enhance industrial progress through disruptive technology. Furthermore, by identifying gaps, the authors suggest multiple research prospects for forthcoming investigations on disruptive technologies and their impact on consumer behaviour. This research is novel in various aspects. This research is by far the only research record in the last decade that provides a systematic literature review of disruptive technologies with an extensive focus on customers. Considering the methodological perspective, this research uses topic modelling as a new literature review model, enabling analysing more research outputs and yielding more valuable findings than traditional methodologies.

Guest editorial overview: ‘Mapping the future of consumer behaviour using disruptive technologies’

“…Using AI, AR, VR, blockchain and other tech‐enabled modern tools, retailers, marketers and service providers are trying to influence how customers buy and engage with offerings. This trend is well captured by the paper by Beheshti et al (2024), Chidambaram et al (2024), Kim and Im (2023), Kumar et al (2024), Sangal et al (2024) and Shankar et al (2024) in our SI in the apparel, footwear and healthcare industry. Such changes are not only possible in textile or healthcare but also future researchers can look into if and how such tech can be used to change marketing strategies in industries like hospitality, education, and so forth.…”

“…Using AI, AR, VR, blockchain and other tech-enabled modern tools, retailers, marketers and service providers are trying to influence how customers buy and engage with offerings. This trend is well captured by the paper by Beheshti et al (2024), Chidambaram et al (2024), Kim and Im (2023), Kumar et al (2024), Sangal et al (2024) and Shankar et al (2024) for NFT, we see there is further scope in exploring NFTs for consumer behaviour. Future research can explore the use of NFT for preserving the value of perishable physical goods.…”