Authors:

Mehal Pandya, Palak Modi

Abstract:

Purpose: This systematic litrature review aims to review the existing deferred payment related research and identify major research themes as well as gaps.

Design/methodology/approach: A thorough literature search was done to understand the deferred payment in and out for which Studies from different perspective such as regulatory, marketing, psychology, and behavioural were analysed.

Findings: BNPL is not just a payment tool but it is used for both budgeting and credit. Thus, it has an influence on consumer behaviour and psychology. Ethical concerns exist as BNPL can be reason for impulsive buying.

Research limitations: The very first limitation is, the study is limited to peer reviewed English articles. Second is this study only focuses on articles published between 1957-2025. Lastly it excludes News articles, Blogs and Other languages articles. Despite these limitations, this paper focuses conceptual evolution, consumer perception, adoption, regulations.

Practical implications: This systematic review provides an understanding of the evaluation, consumer perception, impulsive buying, adoption trends, and future directions for researchers, regulators, and fintech firms.

Originality/value: This paper found that BNPL is not just a payment tool but it is used for both budgeting and credit. Thus, it has an influence on consumer behaviour and psychology. Ethical concerns exist as BNPL can be reason for impulsive buying. Thus, this paper identifies major themes, research gaps and emerging trends that evolves BNPL.

Keywords:

Deferred payment, Buy Now Pay Later, Consumer credit, Digital Payment

Vol & Issue:

VOL.18, ISSUE No.1, March 2026