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Mobile payments (MP) have grown significantly with the proliferation of mobile commerce. In 2022, the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) estimated that 66% of the global population had internet access. The COVID-19 pandemic significantly accelerated the shift toward e-commerce, as consumers increasingly relied on online shopping for safety and convenience. This trend has accelerated the dominance of digital and contactless payments, which were driven by enhanced security features, such as biometric authentication, and the growing integration of seamless, omnichannel payment experiences (Blakey, 2024). MP refers to financial transactions conducted via mobile devices without physical cash or cards. MP includes technologies such as near-field communication (NFC), quick response code (QR) payments, and mobile banking applications like Apple Pay, Google Wallet, and Alipay. Transaction security and efficiency through these technological advancements largely change consumer habits, eventually leading to a broader adoption of MP solutions (Khando et al., 2022).
Despite the development and adoption of MP technologies, academic research on the topic remains insufficiently integrated. Although numerous studies have examined specific aspects of MP, such as adoption behavior, user trust, and technological features, the intellectual core of the field, including its foundational theories, dominant themes, and evolving trajectories, has not yet been systematically explored. In particular, there is a limited understanding of how core knowledge in the MP domain is organized and how it has evolved. Although prior studies have emphasized the need to explore commercial, regulatory, and cultural influences on MP adoption (Dahlberg et al., 2015), the absence of an integrated framework impedes a sound theoretical development and practical application in the field. Furthermore, despite MP’s growing pervasiveness in our daily lives, there remains an inadequate perspective on how distinct knowledge clusters collectively shape a comprehensive understanding of the MP ecosystem. A structured synthesis of this knowledge would also enable researchers to understand the field’s disciplinary composition and evolving methodological approaches. Notably, the current MP literature is dominated by quantitative methods (Abdullah & Naved Khan, 2021), often at the expense of qualitative insights and interdisciplinary perspectives—both of which are essential for capturing the multifaceted nature of MP adoption and system implementation (Ha et al., 2024; Al-Qudah et al., 2022; Ali et al., 2023; Upadhyay et al., 2022). To address these issues, this study conducts a citation and co-citation analysis to systematically map the core knowledge structure and thematic evolution of MP research from 1996 to 2023. Through this approach, we aim to reveal the intellectual foundation of the field, trace how its research has shifted over time, and provide a comprehensive reference for future investigations. To achieve these objectives, the following research questions are formulated:
To answer these research questions, we conducted a citation and co-citation analysis on related articles published between 1996 and 2023 in the WoS database. This analysis provides a comprehensive overview of the core knowledge and emerging MP research trends. We identified 13 major clusters from 111 highly cited references representing the foundational elements of MP research. These clusters include (1) mobile money, (2) trust in mobile banking, (3) risk factors in digital banking, (4) service quality, (5) a multidimensional decision framework of the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology model (UTAUT); (6) beliefs; (7) decision-making for information technology (IT) adoption; (8) trust; (9) perceived value; (10) compatibility; (11) relative advantage; (12) social influence; (13) intention to use and continued use of information systems. These clusters cover diverse topics with a comprehensive coverage of knowledge in the field.