Bibliometric Analysis of Income Tax Compliance Research: Taxpayer Attitudes, Perceptions, and Behaviors
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.55829/k9wn2975Keywords:
Bibliometric analysis, income tax compliance, tax filing, taxpayer behavior, Web of Science, tax morale, e-filing, tax avoidanceAbstract
This paper presents a detailed bibliometric analysis of income tax compliance literature, focusing on taxpayers' attitudes, perceptions, and behavioral intentions. Analyzing exactly 432 articles indexed in the Web of Science Core Collection from 2006 to early 2026, the study examines publication trends, leading authors, institutional affiliations, geographic distributions, core research areas, citation patterns, and author keyword overlaps. Results indicate a steadily growing academic output in this field, with a notable concentration of the literature originating in the United States. Business Economics clearly emerges as the primary research focus. Additionally, scholars like James Alm and Erich Kirchler are identified as highly prolific contributors. Furthermore, keyword co-occurrence mapping highlights the central themes of tax compliance, tax morale, trust, and taxpayer behavior, providing a nuanced understanding of how this vital research area was intellectually organized and developed over the past two decades.
References
Alm, J. (2019). What motivates tax compliance? Journal of Economic Surveys, 33(2), 353–388. https://doi.org/10.1111/joes.12272
Alm, J., & Torgler, B. (2006). Culture differences and tax morale in the United States and in Europe. Journal of Economic Psychology, 27(2), 224–246. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.joep.2005.09.002
Alm, J., McClelland, G. H., & Schulze, W. D. (1992). Why do people pay taxes? Journal of Public Economics, 48(1), 21–38. https://doi.org/10.1016/0047-2727(92)90040-M
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Kirchler, E. (2007). The economic psychology of tax behaviour. Cambridge University Press.
Kirchler, E., Hoelzl, E., & Wahl, I. (2008). Enforced versus voluntary tax compliance: The “slippery slope” framework. Journal of Economic Psychology, 29(2), 210–225. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.joep.2007.05.004
Slemrod, J. (2007). Cheating ourselves: The economics of tax evasion. Journal of Economic Perspectives, 21(1), 25–48. https://doi.org/10.1257/jep.21.1.25
van Eck, N. J., & Waltman, L. (2010). Software survey: VOSviewer, a computer program for bibliometric mapping. Scientometrics, 84(2), 523–538. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11192-009-0146-3
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