Deciphering the growth of digital payment adoption: an extensive SPAR-4 bibliometric exploration

Purpose This study aims to perform a detailed bibliometric analysis of digital payment adoption and map the trends and growth in this field by examining seminal works, conceptual foundations and intellectual networks. Design/methodology/approach The Scientific Procedures and Rationales for Systematic Literature Reviews (SPAR-4-SLR) technique was applied to retrieve 1,016 journal articles from Scopus and Web of Science (2003–2023). Diverse performance analyses and science mapping methods were performed using the Biblioshiny package in R to gain a comprehensive understanding of the field’s knowledge base. Findings The findings reveal a significant increase in scholarly interest, marked by a surge in publications and citations in recent years. Co-citation and factorial analysis identified distinct research clusters, delineating core themes and suggesting future research avenues relevant to theoretical exploration in digital payment technologies. Originality/value This study is a groundbreaking effort to explore the adoption of digital payment through bibliometric analysis. It uniquely addresses key domains for science mapping, including intellectual and conceptual structures. These innovative findings provide valuable insights for future practitioners, academics and aspiring researchers in the field.