The main objective is to map the evolution of knowledge about the aforementioned themes in the last 125 years (1900-2025). To this end, we studied academic publications and citations, excluding patents, according to Goyal and Kumar (2020) .

In addition, the objectives of the study are organized into sub-objectives following the model of Zahoor & Al-Tabbaa (2020) , which included 1) mapping the top publications on the topics and 2) identifying important research papers using citation network and text network analysis to present new trends in the field. Finally, Table 1 summarizes the objectives of the review, including publications and citations of both topics cited, in accordance with the general research objectives, as follows:

Source: database.

Table 1 shows that the comprehensive literature study revealed 685,503 citations, which included 15,344 publications. The Publish or Perish software ( Harzing, 2007 ) version 8.0 was used to analyze the survey coverage from 1900 to 2025. The research included terms in English and Portuguese for the research, to give greater scope and depth to the themes, since the largest number of existing publications is in the English language.

The application of the above-mentioned criteria resulted in the following research databases: 1) Scopus; 2) Google Scholar; 3) Crossref and finally 4) Semantic Scholar. Both are databases widely disseminated in academia and available for consultation. The inclusion/exclusion criteria is summarized below:

Inclusion Criteria

1) Language: English and Portuguese.

2) Databases: Scopus, Google Scholar, Crossref and Semantic Scholar.

3) Coverage period: 1900 to 2025.

4) Type of publication: Articles (exclusion of patents).

5) Relevance to the academic environment: The selected databases must be relevant to the academic environment.

Exclusion Criteria

The following criteria were employed to exclude publications from the systematic review.

Invalid Entries

- Publications that are not research articles, such as editorials, letters to the editor, book reviews, etc.

- Publications that are not in English or Portuguese.

- Publications that are not available in full text.

- Publications that are prior to 1900 or after 2025.

- Publications that are not related to the review topic.

Duplicates

- Publications that are identical copies of other articles already included in the review.

- Publications that contain substantially similar information to other articles already included in the review.

Irrelevant Publications

- Publications that do not address the topic of transformational leadership and motivation in technology companies.

- Publications that do not present empirical research results.

- Publications that are theoretical or conceptual in nature, without practical application.

These criteria were applied rigorously and transparently to ensure the quality and relevance of the publications included in this SLR.

Keywords

“Product centric”

“Customer-centric”

“Customer Experience”

“Customer Loyalty”

Boolean logic

The Boolean logic AND was employed to return searches with all keywords, whereas OR was employed to return searches for documents containing at least one. Therefore, the abovementioned keywords, Product AND Centric, Customer AND Centric, Customer AND Experience, and Customer AND Loyalty, were investigated to report results containing both words. In addition, the logic AND was combined with logic OR, as follows: Product AND Centric OR Customer AND Centric OR Customer AND Experience OR Customer AND Loyalty.

It is worth noting two restrictions on the use of the databases: all of them allowed access to 1000 possible entries each, totaling 4000 possible entries. By default, Publish or Perish v.8.0 ( Harzing, 2007 ) allows 1000 results per query session. The total number of items analyzed, however, was reduced due to exclusions, which occurred due to invalid or redundant entries, as can be seen in Table 2 , as follows:

Source: database.

After the first round of searches, the most relevant emerging topics were determined using a text network analysis, and these themes served as keyword inputs in the subsequent iterative cycle. The data were then subjected to a text network and content analysis. Through Google My Maps^®, the new patterns were also examined spatially. The screening and selection process will be detailed as follows.

First, using the program described above with the default search settings of article inclusion and patent exclusion, we analyzed the terms (keywords), such as “Product centric”, “Customer-centric”, “Customer Experience”, and “Customer Loyalty”. The search included 16,000 articles on each of the four themes. Therefore, 4000 entries of publications per theme were inspected, of which 657 were deleted after visual consultation due to duplicates and invalid entries. Of the 16,000 entries studied, only 15,343 were considered valid for the research, resulting in 657 exclusions (see Table 1 and Table 2 ).

Table 3 shows the total number of citations and publications for product centric, we have a total of 3754 publications analyzed and 638,981 citations, as follows:

Source: database.

Regarding the total number of citations and publications for customer centric, we have a total of 3723 publications analyzed and 139,848 citations, as displayed in Table 4 , organized by theme and database.

Source: database.

Regarding the total number of citations and publications for customer experience, we have a total of 3943 publications analyzed and 1,360,740 citations, as illustrated in Table 5 , organized by theme and database.

Source: database.

Regarding the total number of citations and publications for customer loyalty, we have a total of 3933 publications analyzed and 797,666 citations, as depicted in Table 6 , as follows.

Source: database.

The results emerged after eight rounds of interactions, through consultation with the bases individually. Figure 1 summarizes the entire research design, organized by sections, as follows.

Bibliometric analysis was the methodology selected to evaluate and quantify the article, identifying trends, patterns and relationships between the selected publications. It serves to evaluate the production of authors and institutions, map knowledge, manage research policies, and develop academic performance indicators. In addition, it helps to identify emerging research areas, influential authors, and collaboration networks, contributing to effective research management and the advancement of scientific knowledge ( Braun et al., 2006 ; Georghiou, 1995 ; Garfield, 2006 ).

Table 7 shows the total number of publications of product centric, while Table 8 shows the total number of publications of customer centrism. Table 9 illustrates the results from Customer Experience and Table 10 shows the results for Customer Loyalty, organized by database and their respective frequencies, as follows:

Source: database.

Source: database.

Source: database.

Source: database.

Figure 2 summarizes the evolution of publications in the frequency distribution format, both product and customer centrism, from 1900 to 2025.

Figure 2 shows that in the last decade they have doubled in relation to previous decades. Figure 3 graphically shows the distribution of publications between customer and product centrism, for better visualization.

Figure 3 shows that we had a very similar number of publications on both topics, which helps us to have a good basis for comparison between the publications, since a disproportionate number of one of the two themes could suggest that the distribution of citations could also be disproportionate. So, with a very similar number between the frequency of publications, we can see that customer centrism

Table 11 shows the total number of citations of product centrism and Table 12 shows the total number of citations of customer centrism. Table 13 illustrates the total citations of customer experience and Table 14 shows the total citations of customer loyalty organized by database and their respective frequencies, as follows:

Figure 4 , illustrates the evolution of citations in the frequency distribution format, both product and customer centrism, from 1900 to 2025.

Source: database.

Source: database.

Source: database.

Source: database.

We then gathered the publications’ affiliations from the .csv saved archive of Publish or Perish ( Harzing, 2007 ). Using https://www.google.com/intl/pt-BR/maps/about/mymaps/ (Google My Maps), the geographic distribution of the top publishers is illustrated in Figure 5 , as follows.

Table 15 shows the top 10 authors.

Source: Harzing, 2007 .

A network map of the keywords, titles and abstracts was used to find the thematic groupings on the assumption that the grouped terms may represent similar subjects. Network text analysis is shown in Figure 6 and used density-based spacing and normalization clustering techniques. Figure 7 shows a network graph from the text-based data using www.infrandus.com, which revealed insights and trends based on network characteristics, including primarily the phrases “customer centric”. As a result, current topics and developing trends in the area were discovered by carefully examining the research papers in each cluster.

In an analogous way, Figure 7 presents the Textual analysis of the network (product centrism).

Content analysis reveals that the four themes have grown in the last two decades, while the number of citations is following an upward trend.

The answer to Q1 is shown in Figure 3 . Over the past century, product and customer centrism, as well as customer experience and customer loyalty are topics that have been widely studied in the past century, especially from the 1990s to today. Table 1 presents a total of 15,343 publications analyzed and 2,937,235 citations in four databases: Google Scholar, Scopus, Semantic Scholar and Crossref.

The answer to Q2 is found in Table 15 , where we present the top 10 authors of the two investigated themes. Seufert et al. (2014) , the most influential author, highlighted customer centrism.

The answer to Q3 is found in Figure 5 , where Google MyMaps showed a higher prevalence of publications in North America, followed by Europe.

Customer centrism predominates in contemporary economics ( Demirkan et al., 2008 ), with various disciplines, such as information technology, marketing, operations and, increasingly, information systems, actively involved in service-related research ( Barrett et al., 2015 ). The themes of the mapped articles point to a growing interest of researchers related to Information Technology and Internet Banking, which was to be expected due to recent technological advances in the area ( Barrett et al., 2015 ).

However, the main gap concerns the assumptions and new definitions about customer-centrism. For example, information technology (IT) and information systems (IS) researchers often perceive services as IT-enabled services, while, for example, the marketing research community views them as business services offered to customers ( Marjanovic & Murthy, 2016 ). Therefore, there are gaps as to the typology to be used by the theme. Customer-centric logic can best be illustrated by the proliferation of different definitions and assumptions about the fundamental concept of service, with the aim of investigating the existing gap on the strategic behavior of multi-product companies whose portfolio of complementary product offerings belongs to several sectors ( Manral, 2016 ).

Over time, the themes and gaps varied according to the interest aroused by the theme and the gaps that existed at the time. As demonstrated in Figure 4 , both customer and product centrism became prominent from the 1990s onwards. Therefore, we divided the study into three time periods: from 1990 to 1999; from 2000 to 2009 and from 2010 to 2025, presented below:

In the period between 1990 and 1999, studies on the distribution of financial services predominated ( Worthington, 1998 ); growth of the banking industry ( Carifio Jr. & Jahnke, 1998 ). The paradigm shifts from product to customer centrism ( Hamel, 1998 ) and the embryonic impact of e-commerce on financial institutions ( Ambrose, 1998 ). Also studies on the introduction and change of the role of information technology related to the services provided by financial institutions ( Brohman & Copeland, 1999 ). The research gaps of this period were answered using mixed methods, sometimes qualitative as case studies ( Brohman & Copeland, 1999 ; Chan, 2005 ), sometimes quantitative ( Ambrose, 1998 ), for example.

Finally, the conclusions of this period sought to understand and anticipate the paradigm shift from product to customer centrism with the rise of banking e-commerce, still embryonic and pre-internet. Digital banks, as we know them today, were still nothing more than utopia.

Between 2000 and 2009, studies focused on the development of client-centric systems ( Heckl & Moorman, 2007 ; Galbraith, 2005 ). Baines, et al., (2009) , for example, developed operations strategies for product-centered servitization. Others have focused their research efforts on customer relationship management (CRM) related to financial services ( Chan, 2005 ; Peppard, 2000 ; Wind, 2001 ). The research gaps of this period were answered using mixed methods, sometimes qualitative as case studies ( Peppard, 2000 ), sometimes quantitative ( Heckl & Moorman, 2007 ; Galbraith, 2005 ; Baines, et al., 2009 ), for example.

The conclusions of the period already highlight a considerable increase in the adoption of digitalization projects by banks, with a growing increase in the relevance of customer-focused service delivery.

Between 2010 and 2025, studies focused on the effect of customer-centric structure on long-term financial performance ( Kindström & Kowalkowski, 2014 ; Lee et al., 2015 ). Studies on mobile banking in developing countries have also emerged ( Mishra & Bisht, 2013 ). Studies have also focused on digital banking disruption ( Wewege et al., 2020 ), as well as the emergence and prominence of fintechs ( Pollari, 2016 ; Milian et al., 2019 ; Jorge et al., 2018 ; Tello-Gamarra et al., 2022 ; Grennan and Michaely, 2021 ). The research gaps of this period were answered using mixed methods, sometimes qualitative as case studies ( Pollari, 2016 ; Milian et al., 2019 ; Jorge et al., 2018 ), sometimes quantitative ( Grennan & Michaely, 2021 ), for example.

The conclusions of this period were marked by an exponential increase in the use of banking digitization systems, with the birth of digital banks without physical bank branches, offering the same services as traditional banks, where operations via application and website gained intense prominence, either due to the evolution of the technology involved, or due to the increasing security of banking systems, in the face of fraud attempts, a theme that was widely ventilated in the period.