Consumer behaviour and digital payments in the post-COVID-19 era: a systematic review and integrative framework for sustainable marketing

Purpose This paper aims to systematically reviews and synthesises post-COVID-19 research on consumer payment behaviour, examining how the accelerated diffusion of digital and contactless payment solutions intersects with sustainable marketing concerns, including responsible consumption, trust, transparency and digital choice architectures. The review does not treat digital payment adoption as inherently sustainable; rather, it shows that sustainability-related implications depend on how payment systems are embedded within consumption journeys, governed through transparent practices and interpreted by consumers across contexts. Design/methodology/approach A systematic literature review was conducted on peer-reviewed journal articles published between 2022 and 2025. Studies were retrieved from Scopus and Google Scholar using a predefined search strategy and eligibility criteria, and analysed through descriptive mapping and thematic synthesis across marketing, information systems and sustainability-related streams. Findings Based on 57 journal articles, the review highlights a rapidly expanding multidisciplinary body of research on post-COVID-19 consumer payment behaviour. Adoption, continuance and switching are shaped by mechanisms such as perceived convenience and value, trust and security/privacy, perceived risk, habit formation and contextual factors including channel setting and platform integration. Importantly, payment practices are not value-neutral: their sustainability implications depend on how systems are embedded in consumption processes, communicated through marketing and aligned with consumer responsibility. The paper proposes an integrative framework linking payment infrastructures, consumer psychology, marketing and corporate social responsibility (CSR) processes and sustainability-related behavioural outcomes. Originality/value This study provides one of the first systematic syntheses focused on post-COVID-19 consumer payment behaviour from a sustainable marketing perspective, offering a framework that contributes to theory and informs practitioners and policymakers designing responsible digital payment ecosystems.