Agile-as-a-tool and agile-as-a-culture: a comprehensive review of agile approaches adopting contingency and configuration theories

Abstract

Today’s world requires new approaches to innovation that leverage continuous testing and pivoting. Speed and the ability to respond to exogenous shocks are becoming increasingly important in both theory and practice. Following the introduction of the Agile Manifesto in 2001, a wide range of industries have adopted agile approaches, which differ from other ways of managing innovation projects by promoting flexibility and the rapid development of new solutions. Despite the proliferation of agile approaches across industries, the literature lacks a systematic understanding of their underlying elements. Therefore, we conduct a systematic literature review using a text mining technique to longitudinally explore the evolutionary dynamics of the field. Analyzing the results through the dichotomous lens of contingency and configuration theories, we show that the agile literature can be systematized into two perspectives: agile-as-a-tool in the contingency perspective, and agile-as-a-culture in the configuration perspective. Our review reveals underexplored intersections in the field of innovation and provides interesting insights into these two perspectives. We also propose a research agenda to shed light on these emerging perspectives in the agile innovation and management literature.