Scientific flow analysis of behavioral accounting research in Web of Science database

Analysis of the scientific flow plays an essential role in identifying important research areas that reflect developments, challenges, and solutions in a scientific field. In this regard, this study aims to identify the currents and areas of research in behavioral accounting in the international arena. This research is a descriptive application that has been done by content analysis and scientometric methods. An example of this research is 998 articles in the field of behavioral accounting that have been indexed in the Web of Science database from 1970 to 2022. Data analysis was performed using Vosviewer and Overview software. Findings indicate that research in this field can be classified into 6 clusters, risk, decision making, desirability, loss avoidance, and behavioral finance are the most critical research areas in this field. Also, the evolution of theories in this field, respectively (from the oldest to the newest) are: (1) the theory of expected utility and desirability (2) the theory of cumulative perspective and perspective (3) the theory of games (4) Behavioral decision-making theory (5) Regret theory (6) Mental accounting theory (7) Organizational behavior theory.