Design thinking enabling innovation: a literature review

Abstract

Innovation is fuel for the sustainability and competitive advantage of an organization. Practitioners have proposed several tools to promote innovation in an organization. The design thinking framework is one approach for problem-solving that can lead to innovations. Some industries have already matured in practicing the design thinking approach, while others are in the nascent stage and still exploring the benefits of creating more innovations. This article puts forwards a systematic literature review followed by a bibliometric analysis on adoption of a design thinking approach for fueling innovation and solving complex problems in different domains. The present study also gives an overview of the penetration of the design thinking approach in various industries and domains. The literature review reveals that design thinking is practiced in almost all industry segments, with more evidence in education and healthcare and an upward trend in user-centered design and complex problem-solving.

Keywords:

• design thinking
• innovation
• problem solving
• organization culture

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Raunaque Mujeeb Quaiser

Raunaque Mujeeb Quaiser is research scholar at Indian Institute of Management, Rohtak. His areas of research interests are Open Innovation, Intrapreneurship and Startups.

Shivendra Kumar Pandey

Dr. Shivendra Kumar Pandey is an Associate Professor in the area of Marketing and Dean Research and Executive Education at IIM Rohtak. He is also the editor of Emerging Economies Case Journal from Sage publications. Dr. Pandey has published extensively in reputed journals such as Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, International Journal of Retail and Distribution Management, International Journal of Market Research, Australasian Marketing Journal, Marketing Intelligence and Planning, Event Management, Journal of Cleaner Production and International Journal of Conflict Management.