DIGITALIZATION

Abstract

Digitalization is a powerful engine for economic growth in the world. In 2018,
digitally transformed firms represented 13.5 billion US dollars of global GDP and,
towards the end of 2023, they are expected to represent 53.3 billion US dollars, over
half of the general nominal GDP (Statista, Nominal GDP driven by digitally
transformed and other enterprises worldwide 2018–2023. The main objective of this
study is to provide information (highlighting principal research topics and research
agendas) from the literature on state-of-the-art digitalization within firms through a
Systematic Literature Review (SLR). In all, 119 review articles on the most mature
functional areas of the firm are analyzed: management, marketing, and finance and
accounting, published in the WOS over the period 2018-April 2022. In this study, key
relevant tendencies are identified in the most mature areas of the firm, which are the
impact of digital technologies on the analysis of consumer behavior; digitalization and
green innovation within organizations; and blockchain technology applied to financial
services. The main contributions of this work are as follows: (1) to provide the most
complete and up-to-date review of digitalization from a global perspective,
summarizing the current state of knowledge within an integrated framework; (2) to
reduce the complexity of digitalization by offering structure and clarity; and (3) to offer
links between digitalization and established points of view in the literature on
management, marketing, finance, and accounting. The novelty of this paper is centered
on a joint analysis of digitalization, digital transformation, and digital technologies,
taking into account the most mature functional areas of the firm.