Design science in operations management: A review and synthesis of the literature

The application of design science (DS) in the field of operations management (OM) is believed to be lopsided, with most studies pursuing theory-to-practice rather than practice-to-theory applications of DS. However, this belief has remained untested at the level of the entire body of DS applications in OM. This paper therefore reviews and synthesizes 66 peer-reviewed DS-based publications (2003–2023) and presents a novel configurational framework. We analyse the DS applications through the lens of this framework to conclude that most of these applications contribute incrementally to extant theories but make a rather revelatory contribution to practice. This analysis points at four main reasons: DS is still an emerging research methodology, which is not labelled as such in many applications; OM researchers often assume problem-solving is the primary purpose of DS, which inhibits the delivery of more theoretical research outcomes; the lack of methodological guidelines to support the transition from specific to generalized knowledge; and the rather fragmented body of knowledge on DS, which is dispersed across multiple sources and different domains. This paper offers a configurational framework for DS to guide OM scholars in their efforts to explore scientific discoveries beyond problem-solving.