Tracing innovation efficiency: Review and bibliometric analysis

While “innovation efficiency” has become widespread and intuitive to many over the past few decades, its definition, measurement, and understanding have evolved. This paper offers a review of the economic literature centred on the dynamics of the innovation efficiency concept. We conducted a bibliometric analysis of 5,123 scholarly publications on Scopus to broaden the understanding of innovation efficiency phenomena, complemented by an in-depth science map analysis of 764 publications. We illustrate the accelerated growth of literature in the innovation-efficiency domain in recent years. Despite this significant growth, research in this area remains fragmented, underscoring the need for the systematic approach undertaken in this study. Through the bibliometric analysis, we discerned that the focus of innovation-efficiency-related studies has shifted from internal organisational issues to a comprehensive perspective on innovation, encompassing exogenous elements and external sources of innovation. We delineate three periods in the evolution of central themes within the innovation efficiency domain from 1998-2022: Initial focus on individual firms’ performance, progressing to external and network determinants of innovation, and recently, the link between innovation efficiency and green innovation in the third period. We also identified two primary research methodologies: (i) Qualitative surveys and (ii) Quantitative methods using regression analysis, mathematical models, and data envelopment analysis. Scientists, policymakers, and investors can utilise these findings to gain insights into the paramount aspects underpinning research in the innovation efficiency phenomena.