Organisational capability trajectories in contemporary resource-based view (RBV) scholarship: a field-level bibliometric, structural and thematic synthesis (2021–2025)

Abstract

Purpose This paper aims to examine how publication temporality and citation impact jointly inform the contemporary evolution of organisational capability within the resource-based view (RBV) literature between 2021 and 2025. This study clarifies how theoretical thinking about firm resources has shifted towards novel forms of value-creating organisational capabilities and identifies the consolidation of theoretical themes and future research directions within the field. Design/methodology/approach This study analyses 4,232 peer-reviewed articles published between 2021 and 2025, a period that accounts for nearly 50% of all RBV literature published since 1984. This study uses a quantitative bibliometric and science-mapping methodology, including semantic co-occurrence analysis of author keywords, with overlay and density visualisations in VOSviewer. Overlay maps highlight the temporal relevance of organisational capability constructs, and density maps reveal their structural and conceptual influence. The dual-lens approach provides a diagnostic framework for interpreting the contemporary trajectory of RBV-based organisational research. Findings The findings reveal a structural shift in how RBV scholarship conceptualises organisational capability, through three distinct evolutionary trajectories. Firstly, core renewal, where digital transformation and artificial intelligence fuse with dynamic capabilities to create high-impact internal capability routines. Secondly, emergent experimentation, in which constructs such as entrepreneurship, early-stage resource bootstrapping and blockchain form exploration frontiers. Thirdly, stable influence, in which environmental performance, the natural resource-based view and corporate social responsibility are broadly accepted as baseline pillars. This paper demonstrates that there is an active reconfiguration of traditional resource logic within the RBV field, with organisational capabilities moving along divergent theoretical trajectories. Research implications This study offers a diagnostic framework for positioning future RBV research within organisational theory. It delineates which capability constructs are undergoing renewal, which peripheral themes merit further development and which established organisational vocabularies continue to anchor the field. The dual-lens approach reveals where visibility is rising, but citation influence lags, guiding scholars in prioritising constructs for theoretical extension, consolidation and empirical testing. Practical implications For strategists and corporate leaders, the findings reframe how competitive advantage is created and sustained in volatile, unpredictable environments. Instead of relying on static, capital-heavy physical asset stocks, strategic advantage requires dynamic resource orchestration – coalescing flexible digital capabilities, cross-border relational networks and alliances and ecological stewardship into hard-to-imitate organisational routines that drive resilient value creation. Social implications The findings indicate that contemporary RBV scholarship increasingly aligns firm capability building with societal demands for environmental sustainability, ethical governance and digital inclusion. The results categorise transient, emergent and enduring capability practices – including those within resource-constrained contexts – and provide policymakers with actionable insights to inform initiatives aimed at organisational resilience and sustainable economic development. Originality/value To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this paper provides the first quantitative dual-lens structural and thematic synthesis of contemporary RBV literature published between 2021 and 2025 – a pivotal period accounting for nearly 50% of all RBV publications and 16% of all RBV citations since 1984. It introduces an integrative diagnostic framework that analyses the evolving theoretical identity of a leading strategic management theory. This study operationalises the divergence between publication recency and citation authority and advances a novel theoretical typology – core renewal, emergent experimentation and stable influence – that reveals how traditional firm resource logic has been actively reconfigured across the contemporary literature in response to technological disruptions, regulatory mandates and global shocks.