Identifying and assessing the scales of dynamic capabilities: a systematic literature review

Abstract

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to identify the existing measure instruments for dynamic capabilities (DCs) in order to understand the tendencies of quantitative studies on DCs as well as to evaluate the reliability and validity of these scales. Design/methodology/approach To accomplish this objective, the authors conducted a systematic review of literature on DCs. Findings Main findings indicate that quantitative research works on DCs have focused on the relationship between DCs, innovation, organization performance, knowledge management and absorptive capacity. Findings also show that efforts to measure DCs quantitatively are recent and lack reliable methodology. Research limitations/implications One limitation of this research is that the authors conducted the systematic review on two databases. However, the authors conducted the research on the two most used databases in management research. Practical implications Findings show that academicians have plenty of room to work on quantitative research works on DCs as well as to develop robust scales to measure this construct in diverse business sectors. Originality/value This paper is the first to analyze the existing scales that measure DCs.