Purpose: Innovation capability is a growing and significant area of academic research. However, there is little attempt to provide a cumulative overview of this phenomenon. The purpose of this systematic review is to synthesize peer reviewed articles published in the area to develop a conceptual framework and to aid future research.
Design/Methodology/Approach: The paper adopted a systematic review of literature on innovation capability. The final screening generated 51 articles from 30 journals from 2000-2015.
Findings: The examination and synthesis of the theoretical and the empirical articles show that (1) the authors applied narrow range of conceptual and theoretical foundations; (2) innovation capability is being investigated mostly at the firm level for about 90% of the articles, and marginally about 5% at network (supply) chain level; (3) the authors define innovation capability in different ways and use diverse set of dimensions to measure innovation capability; (4) there is potential for future research across firms in innovation management disciplines.
Practical implications: The review contributes to theory development in organizational capability literature in general. Managers wishing to innovate need to examine critically and integrate some of the innovation capability dimensions proposed in this paper.
Originality: The review is unique in the sense that it provides conceptualisation of innovation capability framework.