Generativity serves as a foundational concept in the realm of digital innovation within interdisciplinary research in the era of the digital economy. Though there are abundant research topics around generativity, the holistic research framework and core topics remain unclear. Adopting methodologies of both Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA) topic modeling and manual coding conducted to 122 related English literatures, this paper systematically discusses four core research contents of generativity in theory: connotation, antecedents, mechanisms, and outcomes. The primary findings are summarized as follows: Firstly, generativity manifests as the spontaneous evolution and expansion of systems. Through an extraction of common connotations from existing interdisciplinary research, this paper enhances a unified understanding of generativity within the context of digital innovation. Secondly, generativity stems from the reciprocal effects of digital technologies and social factors. The antecedents of generativity cover the re-programmability, data homogenization, and affordance of digital technologies, as well as heterogeneous agents, social interaction, and recursive effects of social factors. This paper systematically outlines the antecedents of generativity, contributing to a more comprehensive understanding of its formation mechanism. Thirdly, this paper applies the framework of “Yuan Heng Li Zhen”, the basic way of thinking for the creation and development of the world, which origins from Zhouyi, the quintessence of Chinese philosophy, to elucidate the mechanisms and outcomes of the effects of generativity on digital innovation. “Yuan” symbolizes the origin, “Heng” signifies the interrelation of mutual promotion and restriction, “Li” represents the objective conditions supporting development, and “Zhen” embodies the outcomes and traits of development. As “Yuan”, generative architecture is the foundation of digital innovation development; generative community is “Heng” which drives the development of digital innovation; generative governance performs as “Li” which guarantees digital innovation; generativity represents “Zhen”, promoting product innovation, process innovation, organizational innovation, value innovation, and business ecosystem innovation. Drawing connections between Chinese philosophy and generativity deepens our comprehension of the underlying logic behind generativity’s impact on digital innovation. Fourthly, this paper discusses future research directions of generativity in the realm of digital innovation around these four core contents. This foundational concept aims to stimulate interdisciplinary academic thinking, interchange, contention, and theoretical innovation.