A bibliometric review of innovation networks: 30 years of study

Abstract

Innovation networks as the key predictor of firms’ success have received substantial attention from both academics and practitioners in recent years. However, despite increasing attention being paid to innovation networks and their role in enhancing the performance of new products/services, there is a lack of consensus in the pertinent literature regarding the key antecedents and consequences of innovation networks. To address the lack of coherence in the literature, this paper adopts a bibliometric review method to provide a comprehensive overview of the current situation as well as recent trends in the pertinent literature. We conducted our bibliometric review by examining the time distribution of existing studies and, more importantly, analyzing the most significant authors, journals, countries, institutions, co-citations, co-occurrences, content analysis, and clustering of documents on innovation networks. This comprehensive method enabled us to conduct a robust analysis of the logical continuous flows and key ideas underpinning the innovation networks literature. Using bibliometric analysis, co-citation analysis, and content analysis in the field of innovation networks provides a big picture of studies in the field of innovation networks. Our findings also highlight the limitations of the current literature and offer important future research directions in the field of innovation networks.