Dynamic Capabilities and Digital Technologies: A Scoping Review, Meta-Analysis, and Integrative Framework for Organizational Transformation and Performance

Abstract

Digital technologies, particularly artificial intelligence (AI) and big data analytics (BDA), are increasingly recognized as drivers of competitive advantage, yet the mechanisms through which they enhance organizational performance remain insufficiently understood. Grounded in Teece’s dynamic capabilities framework, this scoping review examines how digital technologies enable sensing, seizing, and reconfiguring capabilities and their impact on organizational performance. Following PRISMA-ScR guidelines, 1349 records from Scopus and Web of Science were screened, resulting in 21 eligible studies (2017–2025). A thematic synthesis and a complementary random-effects meta-analysis of 15 quantitative studies (N = 6924) were conducted, representing an integrated scoping review with embedded quantitative synthesis. The findings show that AI and BDA strengthen sensing through advanced data analytics, AI and digital platforms enhance seizing via real-time decision support, and IoT and blockchain facilitate reconfiguring by improving process optimization and organizational flexibility. Dynamic capabilities consistently mediate the relationship between digital technologies and performance. The meta-analysis confirms a significant positive overall effect (β = 0.356, 95% CI: 0.258–0.454), remaining robust after publication bias correction (β = 0.338). This review further identifies three generative tensions, breadth–depth, speed–deliberation, and flexibility–rigidity, that underpin capability development. An integrative framework and future research agenda are proposed, extending dynamic capability theory by conceptualizing digital technologies as active enablers of organizational adaptation and sustained performance.