Types of Literature Review
Types of literature review refer to different approaches used to collect, analyse and synthesise existing research on a topic. The choice of literature review type depends on the research objectives, research design, and the level of depth and structure required in the study.
On this page:
- Types of Literature Review Explained Simply
- How to Choose the Right Literature Review Type
- Literature Reviews in the Age of AI and Digital Research
| Type | Purpose | Approach | Typical Use |
|---|---|---|---|
| Narrative | Summarise and critique literature | Flexible | Most dissertations |
| Systematic | Comprehensive and structured review | Rigorous | Evidence-based studies |
| Scoping | Map existing literature | Exploratory | New or broad topics |
| Argumentative | Support or refute a position | Selective | Theoretical debates |
| Integrative | Develop new frameworks | Mixed | Conceptual studies |
| Theoretical | Analyse existing theories | Conceptual | Theory development |
Types of literature review at a glance
Types of Literature Review Explained Simply
A literature review is not simply a summary of books and articles. Different types of literature reviews are designed for different research goals and levels of analysis. Some literature reviews mainly focus on summarising existing knowledge, whereas others aim to identify research gaps, compare theories, evaluate evidence systematically, or develop new conceptual understanding. Therefore, the type of literature review selected should always align with the research aims, research design, and overall objectives of the study.
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There are many types of literature review. The choice of a specific type depends on your research approach and design. The following types of literature review are the most popular in business studies:
Narrative literature review, also referred to as traditional literature review, critiques literature and summarizes the body of a literature. Narrative review also draws conclusions about the topic and identifies gaps or inconsistencies in a body of knowledge. You need to have a sufficiently focused research question to conduct a narrative literature review.
Systematic literature review requires more rigorous and well-defined approach compared to most other types of literature review. Systematic literature review is comprehensive and details the timeframe within which the literature was selected. Systematic literature review can be divided into two categories: meta-analysis and meta-synthesis.
When you conduct meta-analysis you take findings from several studies on the same subject and analyze these using standardized statistical procedures. In meta-analysis patterns and relationships are detected and conclusions are drawn. Meta-analysis is associated with deductive research approach.
Meta-synthesis, on the other hand, is based on non-statistical techniques. This technique integrates, evaluates and interprets findings of multiple qualitative research studies. Meta-synthesis literature review is conducted usually when following inductive research approach.
Scoping literature review, as implied by its name is used to identify the scope or coverage of a body of literature on a given topic. It has been noted that “scoping reviews are useful for examining emerging evidence when it is still unclear what other, more specific questions can be posed and valuably addressed by a more precise systematic review.”[1] The main difference between systematic and scoping types of literature review is that, systematic literature review is conducted to find answer to more specific research questions, whereas scoping literature review is conducted to explore more general research question.
Argumentative literature review, as the name implies, examines literature selectively in order to support or refute an argument, deeply imbedded assumption, or philosophical problem already established in the literature. It should be noted that a potential for bias is a major shortcoming associated with argumentative literature review.
Integrative literature review reviews, critiques, and synthesizes secondary data about research topic in an integrated way such that new frameworks and perspectives on the topic are generated. If your research does not involve primary data collection and data analysis, then using integrative literature review will be your only option.
Theoretical literature review focuses on a pool of theory that has accumulated in regard to an issue, concept, theory, phenomena. Theoretical literature reviews play an instrumental role in establishing what theories already exist, the relationships between them, to what degree existing theories have been investigated, and to develop new hypotheses to be tested.
How to Choose the Right Literature Review Type
The choice of literature review type should always align with the research objectives and methodology of the study.
For example:
- narrative reviews are suitable for most undergraduate and postgraduate dissertations
- systematic reviews are more appropriate for evidence-based or highly rigorous studies
- scoping reviews work well for emerging topics
- theoretical reviews are useful for conceptual research
- integrative reviews are suitable for framework development
At the earlier parts of the literature review chapter, you need to specify the type of your literature review your chose and justify your choice. Your choice of a specific type of literature review should be based upon your research area, research problem and research methods. Also, you can briefly discuss other most popular types of literature review mentioned above, to illustrate your awareness of them.
Literature Reviews in the Age of AI and Digital Research
AI and digital technologies are significantly changing the way literature reviews are conducted in business and academic research. Researchers increasingly use AI-powered tools to search for academic sources, identify relevant keywords, summarise articles, organise references, and detect patterns across large volumes of literature.
Traditionally, conducting a literature review required researchers to manually search databases, read large numbers of journal articles individually, and organise findings manually. Modern AI-assisted tools can now speed up many of these tasks by helping researchers identify relevant studies more efficiently and organise information in a more structured manner.
For example, AI tools can help researchers quickly identify frequently discussed themes within hundreds of articles related to topics such as artificial intelligence in business, remote working, sustainability, or digital transformation. Citation management software can also automatically organise references and generate citations in formats such as Harvard or APA.
In addition, AI-powered academic search platforms can recommend related articles, identify influential authors, and help researchers discover connections between studies that may otherwise be overlooked. This can improve the breadth and efficiency of literature reviews, particularly in rapidly evolving research areas where large volumes of new studies are published continuously.
However, despite these advantages, AI-assisted literature reviews also introduce important limitations and risks. AI-generated summaries may oversimplify complex arguments, ignore methodological weaknesses, or overlook contradictory findings within the literature. In some cases, AI systems may prioritise highly cited or easily accessible sources while neglecting less visible but academically important studies.
Researchers must therefore critically evaluate all sources and avoid relying entirely on automated summaries or recommendations. AI tools can assist with information processing, but they cannot replace human judgement, critical thinking, and academic interpretation.
This is especially important in business studies, where understanding context, organisational differences, cultural factors, and practical implications often requires deeper human analysis beyond automated pattern recognition.
As AI technologies continue to evolve, literature reviews are likely to become increasingly technology-assisted. Nevertheless, researchers remain fully responsible for ensuring the quality, credibility, accuracy, and originality of the literature review process.
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[1] Munn, A. et. al. (2018) “Systematic review or scoping review? Guidance for authors when choosing between a systematic or scoping review approach” BMC Medical Research Methodology