Demystifying design thinking: insights from a systematic literature review

Arabinda Bhandari

International Journal of Knowledge and Learning, 2025, vol. 18, issue 1, 84-114

Abstract: 'Design thinking' (DT) becomes a recognised terminology in management nowadays. The concept of DT is predominantly framed as an approach to innovation and creative problem-solving methods on designers' processes and practices. It is considered that DT can comprehend customer needs, can shape a firm's value creation processes, and contribute to the formalisation of the design task. Considering the importance of DT in a current business and social scenario, the objective of this research is to review past performance and the intellectual structure of DT. To do so, this study has done a comprehensive and systematic review of 124 A* and A category ABDC indexed articles from 2007 Scopus indexed articles based on the PRISMA framework. A systematic literature review reveals the performance, themes, and sub-themes in the intellectual structure and identifies five different future research directions with 20 different theories, which have contributed to DT research.

Keywords: design; design thinking; innovation; problem-solving; bibliometric analysis; solution. (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
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