Risk and Innovation In Technology Startups: Mapping The Intellectual Structure and Future Research Directions

Abstract

This study maps the development, intellectual structure, and emerging research directions of literature on risk and innovation in technology startups. Using the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) framework, 54 Q1 Scopus-indexed articles published between 2022 and 2026 were selected from 77 initial records. Bibliometric analysis was conducted using publication and citation analysis, keyword co-occurrence, reference co-citation, and country co-authorship, with VOSviewer and SCImago Graphica used for network and geographical visualization. The findings show that publication activity increased after 2023, while the literature remains dispersed across journals and concentrated in several countries, particularly China, the United States, the United Kingdom, and Spain. Keyword analysis identifies a conceptual structure connecting innovation, venture capital, investment, technology adoption, digital innovation, artificial intelligence, sustainability, and technological development. Co-citation analysis shows that the field draws on resource-based, dynamic capability, entrepreneurship, and venture capital perspectives. International collaboration is present but remains divided across several country clusters. These findings indicate that research on risk and innovation in technology startups has developed through multiple connected but only partially integrated streams. This study contributes by organizing the field’s conceptual, intellectual, and collaboration structures and by identifying future research opportunities related to conceptual integration, emerging technology risk, financing, startup ecosystems, and methodological development.