Digital business ecosystem: Literature review and a framework for future research

•Digital innovation has enabled the development of new collaborative networks such as digital business ecosystems.•There have been limited attempts to critically review and synthesise digital business ecosystem research.•This study systematically analysed and critically reviewed 101 research articles on digital business ecosystem.•This study combined systematic literature review approach with grounded theory literature review method as the overall research strategy.•The findings suggest that digital business ecosystem research can be classified into four main themes. Digital innovation has radically changed how organisations collaborate and compete. Coupled with this change are new collaborative value creation networks such as digital business ecosystems (DBEs). DBE is a socio-technical network of individuals, organisations and technologies that collectively co-create value. Since the emergence of DBE over a decade ago, there have been limited attempts to critically review and synthesise the body of knowledge presented over the years. Thus, the purpose of this paper is to fill this gap in DBE research by: (1) developing a comprehensive framework that synthesises and provides an overall direction of DBE research; (2) pointing out gaps in DBE literature; and (3) providing future research directions. To address this purpose, we systematically analysed 101 research articles on DBE. The findings provide insightful revelations to address some limitations in the current DBE research. As such, this study makes important contributions and serves as a useful resource for future DBE studies and practice.