Mapping the evolution of digital business research during COVID-19: a bibliometric analysis

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic served as a profound catalyst for digital transformation, radically reshaping business models, consumer behavior, and organizational strategies globally. This study employs a bibliometric approach, analyzing 527 publications from the Scopus database to examine how digital business research evolved during this period. Various tools including R software, VOS viewer software, and Publish or Perish are utilized. The aim is to portray the knowledge map, explore the publication years, identify the top authors and their co-occurrence, reliable documents, institutions, subjects, research hotspots, and pioneering countries and universities in the study of digital business. Results indicate consistent annual growth in publication output, accompanied by a decline in average citations per article. This pattern may reflect the “dilution effect” commonly observed in rapidly expanding fields; however, the absence of a pre-pandemic baseline warrants cautious interpretation of this trend. International collaboration proved robust, with strong co-authorship networks led by the United States and China. Thematic analysis identified core research clusters around e-commerce, consumer behavior, supply chain resilience, and digital marketing, underpinned by highly cited studies on pandemic-driven behavioral shifts and technological adaptation. Co-citation analysis revealed four foundational clusters: direct economic impacts, statistical methodologies, digital transformation, and policy responses. Despite these advances, significant research gaps remain, including the long-term implications of digital transformation for business models, the use of advanced analytical methods to study crisis-driven consumer behavior, and comparative policy analyses extending beyond the Chinese context. This review maps the intellectual structure of digital commerce during a global crisis and identifies opportunities for future research to enhance resilience and adaptability in digital ecosystems.