What We Know and What's Next on Responsible Innovation in Business: A Systematic Review and a Research Agenda

Responsible Innovation (RI) has gained increasing attention over the past decade, primarily in the context of publicly funded scientific research. However, in business scholarship, RI remains an emerging and fragmented concept, lacking a consensus on its definition, scope, boundary conditions, and uneven evidence on how firms operationalize RI in practice. To address this oversight, we conduct a systematic review of 100 peer‐reviewed studies in the business discipline. We synthesize how RI is conceptualized, identify dominant theoretical lenses and mechanisms, and map what is known about RI‐related outcomes in corporate settings. Our analysis reveals that while RI is increasingly associated with firms' sustainability strategy and competitive advantages, significant gaps remain in measurement, operationalization, and the conditions under which RI creates value versus imposes costs. We advance a research agenda that highlights specific research directions to deepen the exploration of RI in business contexts.