The Digital Divide and Managerial Innovation: A Challenge for Businesses in the Face of Technological Advances

Abstract

The transition to advanced technologies presents companies with a twofold challenge, bridging the digital divide and promoting managerial innovation to facilitate the effective adoption of these technologies. In this context, this article seeks to answer the following question: How have the concepts of the digital divide and managerial innovation evolved in the scientific literature, and to what extent have their interactions been studied in the era of advanced technologies?

To answer this question, the study first draws on a literature review to identify the main conceptual developments related to the digital divide, managerial innovation, and advanced technologies. This analysis highlights a growing interest in these topics, while revealing a still-limited connection between research on the digital divide and that devoted to managerial innovation practices.

In addition, a bibliometric analysis of 286 publications indexed in Scopus over the 2015–2025 period, conducted using the Bibliometrix package, shows that the concepts of digital divide and digital technologies occupy a central position in the research field. The themes of technology adoption and ICT stand out for their strong growth momentum, while the absence of the concept of managerial innovation in the thematic mapping highlights a significant gap in the literature.

These results underscore a lack of integration between research on the digital divide and that devoted to managerial innovation. By identifying this gap, this study makes a theoretical contribution by proposing that managerial innovation be considered a strategic lever for bridging the digital divide and supporting organizational transformation in the era of advanced technologies. It also opens up new avenues for research on managerial mechanisms that promote a more inclusive and sustainable adoption of advanced technologies.

Classification JEL : M00

Paper type : Theoretical Research