This study aims to conduct a systematic review of the literature on strategic orientation to educational innovation (SOEI), with particular attention to its methodological approaches and conceptual foundations. The review followed four main macro-processes: identification of relevant studies, extraction and organization of information, in-depth analysis through pattern grouping and characterization, and dissemination of findings. Relevant publications were retrieved from the Scopus and Web of Science databases. The initial search produced 63 records, which were subsequently subjected to a quality assessment based on seven inclusion and exclusion criteria. This process resulted in a final corpus of 19 studies for detailed analysis. From a methodological perspective, the reviewed studies are predominantly qualitative, commonly adopting educational institutions as the primary unit of analysis. Pedagogical and institutional documents emerge as the most frequently used data sources, while descriptive forms are the most widely applied data collection instruments. Conceptually, the analysis reveals three core components of SOEI: strategic objectives, mediating mechanisms, and associated outcomes. This article synthesizes the existing body of knowledge on SOEI, offers an integrative definition of the construct, and introduces a novel conceptual model that incorporates its key strategic objectives, mediating processes, and outcomes. As such, it provides a valuable foundation for future empirical research aimed at examining innovation in educational institutions and explaining its results.
