The development of digital payments – past, present, and future – from the literature

We seek to deepen and increase knowledge on the evolution of scholarship regarding digital payments by highlighting the main interpretative strands in the literature and the changes, if any, in research approaches. Using bibliometric and scientometric measures, we explore research hotspots and developmental trends in digital payments to identify influential aspects of published contributions and research streams. Our sample consists of 723 articles published between 1985 and 2021 obtained from the Web of Science. The results show that the most investigated digital payments are mobile payments, with the main analysis methodologies typically linked to technology adoption models. This review, original in terms of sample size and methodology, advances knowledge on the evolution of innovative payments and guides scholars in visualising various research models.