Resumo

The attractiveness of innovation ecosystem studies has increased in the past few years, showing that it has become a trending theme in the management area. Due to innovation ecosystems growing relevance, several literature review articles recently emerged to explore the topics, characteristics, and directions of the field (e.g., Gomes et al., 2018).

However, these literature reviews mainly focused on the content of innovation ecosystem studies and leave aside the methodological procedures that were applied. By analyzing how a field of study has evolved methodologically, we can identify improvement points and recommend best practices for advancing empirical research (Aguinis et al., 2020). We propose a methodological literature review based on 57 empirical innovation ecosystem studies. Our goal is to explore the research methods applied in the most relevant articles of the field and understand methodological choices and future trends.

Innovation ecosystem can be defined as “the evolving set of actors, activities, and artifacts, and the institutions and relations, including complementary and substitute relations, that are important for the innovative performance of an actor or a population of actors” (Granstrand & Holgersson, 2020, p. 1). Through innovation ecosystems, firms can create additional value and deliver multiple solutions that are only achievable because they are part of an interdependent network.

Results allowed us to carry out some critical reflections and point out methodological directions for future empirical research in the innovation ecosystem field. Overall, the articles lack details in the methods section. For instance, some studies did not indicate the number of respondents interviewed, which actors were analyzed in the ecosystem (e.g., company, government, university, society), and which quality criteria were adopted. More precisely, the data analysis description appeared to be the most incomplete and with missing information in the methods section.

Results show there is a growing number of empirical studies over the innovation ecosystem in the last years. Most studies are based on a qualitative approach, cross-sectional analysis, and are carried out through case study design. Therefore, we indicate that empirical research on innovation ecosystems needs to advance through other methodological paths: quantitative and mixed research, longitudinal analysis, and comparison between cases from different countries.

Aguinis, H., Ramani, R. S., & Alabduljader, N. (2020). Best-Practice Recommendations for Producers, Evaluators, and Users of Methodological Literature Reviews. Organizational Research Methods. Gomes, L. A. V., Facin, A. L. F., Salerno, M. S. & Ikenami, R. K. (2018). Unpacking the innovation ecosystem construct: evolution, gaps and trends. Technological Forecasting and Social Change, 136, 30-48. Granstrand, O., & Holgersson, M. (2020). Innovation ecosystems: A conceptual review and a new definition. Technovation, 90-91, 1-12.