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

Today’s world requires new approaches to innovation that leverage continuous test- ing 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 flex- ibility 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 con- figuration 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.