Digital Ambidexterity in the Digital Transformation Era: A Systematic Literature Review of Dynamic Capabilities, Critical Enablers, and Sustainable Outcomes

Abstract

Background: Organizations undergoing digital transformation must simultaneously pursue innovation (exploration) and optimize existing capabilities (exploitation), a tension managed through digital ambidexterity. Although research on digital ambidexterity, dynamic capabilities, and digital transformation has grown rapidly since 2019, no prior systematic review has integrated the three constructs, leaving the information systems and strategic management literature fragmented. Objective: This study maps the contexts and applications of digital ambidexterity, identifies how dynamic capabilities enable it, determines its critical enablers and performance outcomes, and synthesizes these findings into an integrated conceptual framework. Methods: A systematic literature review following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) 2020 protocol was conducted using Scopus. Of 139 retrieved papers, title-abstract screening, full-text assessment, and an eight-item quality checklist (threshold ≥5/8) yielded 33 papers (mean score 7.35/8.0) published in 2019–2025. Bibliometric analysis of the full corpus used the bibliometrix package in R. Results: Three principal findings emerged, corresponding to the first three objectives above. First, digital ambidexterity is most studied in manufacturing, financial services, and technology sectors, concentrated in China and Asia, with organizational size and digital maturity shaping the form adopted. Second, dynamic capabilities (sensing, seizing, and reconfiguring) evolved from structural approaches (2019–2021) toward ecosystem-level orchestration (2024–2025), with digital sensing operating recursively through real-time platform data. Third, organizational enablers, particularly digital leadership and innovation culture, act as preconditions, technological enablers amplify, and environmental enablers moderate ambidextrous outcomes, which bifurcate into short-term operational and long-term strategic results, with sustainability increasingly prominent. Conclusion: Synthesizing these three findings, this study proposes the DA-DC-O (Digital Ambidexterity, Dynamic Capabilities, and Outcomes) Integrated Framework, the first synthesis unifying organizational context, critical enablers, dynamic capabilities mechanisms, and multi-tier performance outcomes, and offers digital leaders and Information Systems (IS) governance professionals a diagnostic taxonomy for prioritizing capability investments. Keywords: Digital Ambidexterity, Dynamic Capabilities, Digital Transformation, Systematic Literature Review, Exploration-Exploitation, Sustainable Outcomes