Digital Transformation in Higher Education as an Organizational Phenomenon: A PRISMA-Based Bibliometric Review

ABSTRACT

This study undertakes a systematic review and bibliometric analysis to examine how digital transformation and innovation in higher education have been conceptualized and investigated through perspectives related to organizational change and capability development. Following the PRISMA 2020 protocol, 891 peer-reviewed journal articles published between 2015 and 2025 were retrieved from the Scopus database and analyzed using VOSviewer and Biblioshiny. The analysis reveals a clear transition from early technology-centered and adoption-oriented studies toward a more integrated research landscape in which organizational change, institutional transformation, governance, and adaptive capacity increasingly shape discussions of digital transformation in higher education. Overall, the findings provide a structured overview of the field and offer a conceptual foundation for future research seeking to advance understanding of digitally enabled organizational capabilities in higher education systems.