Trends in The Study of Cloud Computing: Observations and Research Gaps

In spite of its potential impact on current business world, cloud computing technology still offers fertile and untapped research opportunities. We conduct a systematic literature reviews for the purpose of identifying research gaps in cloud computing literature. It included 188 referred journal and conference articles. Each article was studied carefully to understand its general theme and then extract a pattern to which the article can be classified. Our review efforts led to the identification of four cloud computing general areas: (1) benefits and risks, (2) adoption, (3) outcomes, and (4) its current state from technological and research perspectives. The study is concluded by introducing a number of research questions that need to be empirically and theoretically investigated. This review provides a reference source and classification for IS researchers interested in cloud computing, and identifies research gaps in the literature.