Networking Capabilityof Integrator Firm: A Systematic Review of Literature and Future Research Agenda

System Integrator firms cannot develop all the strategic resources they need on their own, and consequently, some of them must be acquired through inter-organizational networks. Research shows that most network studies focus more on network antecedents and outputs and less on processes and related capabilities. Some researchers have made few efforts to identify and scrutinize capabilities related to business relationships. In this context, scholars have introduced “networking capability” (NC) to emphasize the network perspective. Despite the considerable conceptual and empirical richness, the existence of different nomenclatures and theoretical diversity in NC literature has led to conceptual ambiguity and a lack of consensus on this crucial concept. We have tried to cover this gap through a systematic review of related literature. A systematic review of this study includes structured screening, coding, and categorizing of concepts related to networking capabilities. This study identifies two critical components for NC: Network Development Capability (NDC) and Network Management Capability (NMC). An overview of NC conceptualizations shows that network development is often overlooked, and the network management is overemphasized. This study, while classifying the concepts in the literature under each of these categories, also provides their theoretical definition. Finally, we have identified a series of research gaps in NC studies and proposed some suggestions for future research direction.