"Unveiling Research Trends and Intellectual Structure of Strategic Employee Experience and Innovative Work Behavior: A Bibliometric Science Mapping Study"
Abstract
This article aims to map research trends and intellectual structures on strategic employee experience and innovative work behavior (IWB), which have been developing rapidly but remain theoretically and thematically fragmented. Using bibliometric performance analysis and science mapping approaches, this study analyzed 364 English-language articles published between 2021 and 2025 and indexed in Scopus and Google Scholar. Data were collected through systematic keyword searches related to strategic employee experience and IWB, selected using the PRISMA protocol, and analyzed using VOSviewer to generate network, overlay, density, and co-author collaboration visualizations. The findings indicate that both concepts are closely connected to the themes of digitalization, sustainability, human capital, leadership, knowledge management, and innovation. However, an explicit link between strategic employee experience as an enabler and IWB as a behavioral output has not yet become a primary conceptual pathway. Cluster analysis identified twelve thematic groups integrating issues such as AI, metaverse, green innovation, ESG, digital transformation, and the circular economy, while a map of author collaborations revealed the dominance of a few research communities and the weakness of collaborative bridges across clusters and countries. The theoretical implications emphasize the need for integration of Social Exchange Theory, JD-R Theory, Resource-Based View, and Social Cognitive Theory in explaining the mechanism of employee experience–IWB in the digital and sustainability context, while the practical implications underline the importance of strategic employee experience design as an investment to strengthen individual and organizational innovation capacity.
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