Theoretical development of innovation ecosystem: a three-decade research landscape

Abstract

Purpose Development of each domain of knowledge depends on aggregation of knowledge and documentation of available research. This paper aims to review the articles in the field of innovation ecosystem (IE), do a bibliographic analysis of the information available about each document, explain the process of developing the concept of IE in research during the past years and introduce the forerunner countries, major, top journals, main scientific documents and authors contributing so far to the development of the concept of IE. Design/methodology/approach In this study, 1,233 papers published between 1990 and 2021 April were collected and analyzed by applying life-cycle analysis, bibliometrics and content analysis to provide a full thematic overview of the IE filed. Findings Results showed that initial concepts of IE emerged in 1990 and entered its life-cycle growth period in 2006 due to being accepted by researchers. This growth will continue until 2035. Moreover, top 20 countries (i.e. the most influential and productive countries), most frequently cited journals, top publishing authors and the most important topics as considered by researchers are also identified by employing bibliometrics and content analysis. According coincidence of key words, the most important topics in IE field categorized into four groups. Originality/value Unlike other works recruiting content analysis solely to identify theoretical areas within this concept, the present study used content analysis in the field of scientific research methodology, and then the most popular tools to develop the concept of IE were identified.