Digital transformation trends in service industries

This study examines the evolution of digital transformation (DT) in the service industry through real-world application cases and articles published in journals that are related to DT. This research collected 2,897,024 papers published in Scopus journals from 1991 to March 4, 2022. From this population of papers, 2,683 were reclassified and finally, 1831 were chosen for examination. Among these papers, 437 DT-related articles that focused on service fields were analyzed through word cloud analysis of keywords. This paper delineated evolutionary processes of DT in service sectors by reviewing and comparing both the commonalities and differences between the practice (actual cases) and research (published journal articles) of DT. In addition, this research explored the key contributors of DT in the three stages of DT evolution in the service sector. The results of this study provide theoretical and practical implications that offer strategic insights for planning and implementing DT in the service industry.