Tax Compliance Taxpayer Behavior Research : A Bibliomteric Analysis of Emerging Themes and Future Research Agenda
Abstract
This study presents a bibliometric analysis of the global research landscape on tax compliance and taxpayer behavior, drawing on publications indexed in the Scopus database and visualized through VOSviewer. Keyword co-occurrence networks are constructed and interpreted to identify the field's dominant research themes, thematic clusters, temporal evolution, and the concentration of scholarly attention. The analysis shows that the literature is anchored around tax compliance, tax evasion, and taxation, with tax morale, trust, and behavioral economics functioning as key constructs linking taxpayer psychology to compliance outcomes. The findings indicate that the field has expanded from classical economic deterrence models toward behavioral perspectives grounded in prospect theory and mental accounting, with growing attention to tax authority legitimacy, legal knowledge, and country-specific contexts such as Indonesia, Italy, and Australia. Overlay visualization reveals that artificial intelligence, economic stability, and behavioral research represent the most recently active themes, while density analysis confirms tax compliance, tax evasion, and taxation as the most intensively studied constructs. These findings provide a structured map of the field's intellectual architecture and identify a future research agenda centered on technology-enabled compliance and behaviorally informed tax administration. Based on a dataset of 85 Scopus-indexed documents, the study further highlights that the field remains methodologically diverse, combining randomized field experiments, survey-based modeling, and digitally enabled administrative interventions, which together signal a maturing research domain with substantial room for theoretical integration across economic, cognitive, and institutional perspectives.
Keywords
References
- Alm, J., Bernasconi, M., Laury, S., Lee, D. J., & Wallace, S. (2017). Culture, compliance, and confidentiality: Taxpayer behavior in the United States and Italy. Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization, 140, 176–196. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jebo.2017.05.018
- Andrei, A. L., Comer, K., & Koehler, M. (2014). An agent-based model of network effects on tax compliance and evasion. Journal of Economic Psychology, 40, 119–133. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1016/j.joep.2013.01.002
- Ansarullah, S. I., Ikhlaq, S., Yousuf, T., Islam, M. I., Ul Nisa, K., & Mufti, S. (2025). Artificial intelligence in tax compliance: Transforming taxpayer behavior and system efficiency. In Modeling and Profiling Taxpayer Behavior and Compliance (pp. 251–270). IGI Global. https://doi.org/10.4018/979-8-3373-0422-9.ch011
- Bǎtrâncea, L.-M., Nichita, R.-A., Bǎtrâncea, I., & Moldovan, B. A. (2012). Tax compliance models: From economic to behavioral approaches. Transylvanian Review of Administrative Sciences, (36), 13–26. https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/84863789636?origin=resultslist
- Batrancea, L. (2013). Tax Compliance Models: From Economic to Behavioral Approaches. (36), 13–26.
- Belahouaoui, R., & Attak, E. H. (2024). Digital taxation, artificial intelligence and Tax Administration 3.0: improving tax compliance behavior – a systematic literature review using textometry (2016–2023). Accounting Research Journal, 37(2), 172–191. https://doi.org/10.1108/ARJ-12-2023-0372
- Bentley, D. (2020). Digital tax administration : transforming the workforce to deliver. 18(2), 353–381.
- Bhattacharjee, S., Moreno, K. K., & Salbador, D. A. (2015). The impact of multiple tax returns on tax compliance behavior. Behavioral Research in Accounting, 27(1), 99–119. https://doi.org/10.2308/bria-50976
- Bornman, M., & Ramutumbu, P. (2019). A conceptual framework of tax knowledge. Meditari Accountancy Research, 27(6), 823–839. https://doi.org/10.1108/MEDAR-09-2018-0379
- Bott, K. M., Cappelen, A. W., Sørensen, E. O., & Tungodden, B. (2019). You ve got mail: A randomized field experiment on tax evasion. Management Science, 66(7), 2801–2819. https://doi.org/10.1287/mnsc.2019.3390
- Burt, I., Thorne, L., & Walker, J. (2023). REFERENCE POINTS, MENTAL ACCOUNTING, AND TAXPAYER COMPLIANCE: INSIGHTS FROM A FIELD STUDY. In Advances in Accounting Behavioral Research (Vol. 26, pp. 139–167). Emerald Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1108/S1475-148820230000026006
- Cahyadini, A., Putri, S. A., Safiranita, T., & Hidayat, M. J. (2024). Technology Architecture as an Instrument for Digital Taxation. 1–15.
- Coita, I.-F., Iannario, M., Iodice D’Enza, A., & Mare, C. (2024). Modelling the assessment of taxpayer perception on the fiscal system by a hybrid approach for the analysis of challenging data structures. Digital Finance, 6(1), 97–112. https://doi.org/10.1007/s42521-023-00092-y
- Costa, D. F., Fonseca, B. M., Moreira, B. C. D. M., & de Andrade, L. P. (2023). Bibliometric and scientometric analyses on the relation of tax decision and taxpayer behavior. SN Business and Economics, 3(12). https://doi.org/10.1007/s43546-023-00593-3
- D’Agosto, E., Manzo, M., Pisani, S., & D’Arcangelo, F. M. (2018). The Effect of Audit Activity on Tax Declaration: Evidence on Small Businesses in Italy. Public Finance Review, 46(1), 29–57. https://doi.org/10.1177/1091142117698035
- D’Attoma, J. (2017). Divided nation: The north-south cleavage in Italian tax compliance. Polity, 49(1), 69–99. https://doi.org/10.1086/689982
- Darmayasa, I. N., & Hardika, N. S. (2024). Accountants ’ perspective on tax amnesty enhances tax compliance dimensions in extended slippery slope framework. Cogent Business & Management, 11(1). https://doi.org/10.1080/23311975.2024.2358161
- Hallsworth, M. (2014). The use of field experiments to increase tax compliance. Oxford Review of Economic Policy, 30(4), 658–679. https://doi.org/10.1093/oxrep/gru034
- Manrejo, S., & Yulaeli, T. (2022). Tax Compliance Model Based on Taxpayers Planned Behavior in Indonesia. Journal of Tax Reform, 8(3), 298–311. https://doi.org/10.15826/jtr.2022.8.3.123
- Martinez-Vazquez, J., & Rider, M. (2005). Multiple modes of tax evasion: Theory and evidence. National Tax Journal, 58(1), 51–76. https://doi.org/10.17310/ntj.2005.1.03
- Ndlovu, J., & Poyana, L. S. (2024). Cross-Continental Perspectives: Analysing Tax Non-Compliance Regulations in Canberra, Johannesburg and Washington. Journal of Australian Taxation, 26(1), 21–53. https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/85218787495?origin=resultslist
- Ottone, S., Ponzano, F., & Andrighetto, G. (2018). Tax compliance under different institutional settings in Italy and Sweden: an experimental analysis. Economia Politica, 35(2), 367–402. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40888-018-0093-7
- Prasetyo, D. Y., Adi, P. H., & Damayanti, T. W. (2020). Overconfidence , Gender and Tax Compliance : the Indonesian Evidence. 16(4), 135–143. https://doi.org/10.14254/1800-5845/2020.16-4.11
- Ritsatos, T. (2014). Tax evasion and compliance; from the neo classical paradigm to behavioural economics, a review. Journal of Accounting & Organizational Change, 10(2), 244–262. https://doi.org/10.1108/JAOC-07-2012-0059
- Setyadi, B., & Armaini, R. (2025). The Effect of Tax Audit, Taxpayer Behavior and Tax Regulations on Taxpayer Perceptions and Tax Compliance. International Research Journal of Multidisciplinary Scope, 6(3), 446–459. https://doi.org/10.47857/irjms.2025.v06i03.04270
- Soto-acosta, P., Popa, S., & Martinez-conesa, I. (2018). Information technology , knowledge management and environmental dynamism as drivers of innovation ambidexterity : a study in SMEs. 22(4), 931–948. https://doi.org/10.1108/JKM-10-2017-0448
- Surugiu, M.-R., Mazilescu, R., & Surugiu, C. (2023). Power, trust and tax compliance: Evidence from clusters of countries. Economics and Finance Letters, 10(2), 143–162. https://doi.org/10.18488/29.v10i2.3342
- Twesige, D., Rutungwa, E., Faustin, G., Misago, I. K., & Mutarinda, S. (2024). Gender and the tax compliance puzzle: does gender influence taxpayers’ behaviour towards tax compliance? Evidence from Rwanda. Cogent Business and Management, 11(1). https://doi.org/10.1080/23311975.2024.2316887
- Walsh, K. (2012). Understanding taxpayer behaviour - new opportunities for tax administration. Economic and Social Review, 43(3), 451–475. https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/84866715581?origin=resultslist
How to Cite
Copyright & License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.








