Bibliometric insights into technology-driven innovation in project procurement management

This paper is the first to offer a comprehensive bibliometric analysis of technology-driven innovation in PPM, aiming to portray its intellectual structure, thematic evolution, and future research directions. This study is based on publications indexed in the Web of Science Core Collection database from 2003 to 2025. A systematic search and screening process was used following PRISMA to identify the applicable studies, resulting in a final set of 146 articles. Using analytical tools such as Python-based libraries and VOSviewer, bibliometric performance analysis and science-mapping methods were employed. The results provide evidence of a rising number of publications, particularly after 2018, indicating growing academic interest in digital procurement innovation. The analysis of keyword co-occurrence reveals thematic clusters in empirical research around digital procurement analytics, artificial intelligence, blockchain and smart contracts, digital procurement ecosystems, automation, and sustainability-oriented technologies for procurement. These findings carry significant implications for theory development in procurement research, as well as practical insights for organizations implementing digital procurement strategies and directions for future research on the cyclical features of governance, behavioral dynamics, and technology adoption.