Does Gartner’s Hype Cycle Theory Match Practice?

D. P. Badenhorst (), S. T. Mashabane, J. X. Morele, T. Mutizwa, P. Q. M. Vundla and S. Grobbelaar ()
Additional contact information
D. P. Badenhorst: University of Pretoria
S. T. Mashabane: University of Pretoria
J. X. Morele: University of Pretoria
T. Mutizwa: University of Pretoria
P. Q. M. Vundla: University of Pretoria
S. Grobbelaar: University of Pretoria

A chapter in Human-Centred Technology Management for a Sustainable Future, 2025, pp 333-341 from Springer

Abstract: Abstract The Gartner Hype Cycle has become a widely used industry tool to assess the maturity and potential adoption of emerging technologies. As this model has a prominent influence on investor decision making, an in-depth systematic review of it is necessary. The purpose of this paper is to systematically review and analyse Gartner’s Hype Cycle. In doing so, the objective is to describe how the model is analysed in various sources of literature and then assess the continued relevance of the model as a question is raised: Does Gartner’s Hype Cycle theory match practice? By conducting a systematic review of multiple articles, a differing view of the Hype Cycle in academic literature was observed in comparison to industry sentiment. The results of this review indicate that there are multiple inconsistencies with the current Hype Cycle implementation. Various factors limit the overall applicability of the model; methodological flaws, information gathering flaws, and oversimplification of complex phenomena make up some of these limitations. Notwithstanding these flaws, some benefits of the model are also discussed. Finally, some future recommendations are illustrated, highlighting the need for an empirically attested mathematical representation of the model. Finally, some future recommendations are illustrated, highlighting the need for an empirically attested mathematical representation of the model.

Keywords: Gartner Hype Cycle; Scoping review; Limitations; Benefits; Inconsistencies (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

There are no downloads for this item, see the EconPapers FAQ for hints about obtaining it.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:spr:prbchp:978-3-031-72490-9_33

Ordering information: This item can be ordered from
http://www.springer.com/9783031724909

DOI: 10.1007/978-3-031-72490-9_33

Access Statistics for this chapter

More chapters in Springer Proceedings in Business and Economics from Springer
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().