A Structural Model of the Determinants of XBRL Adoption

Motivated by the purported benefits of XBRL, yet its slow adoption by organizations, the purpose of this study is to determine the significant factors leading to a firm's decision to adopt XBRL both internally and for external reporting purposes. While XBRL is becoming mandatory in the US for SEC filings, there is not a proposed mandate for the adoption of XBRL for internal purposes or for the conversion of financial information into XBRL-tagging in-house (as opposed to outsourcing the conversion). The research model developed in this study combines research on information systems standards adoption and research on the adoption of complex information systems innovations to yield factors for adoption that are categorized as environmental (e.g., governmental and competitive pressure), organizational (e.g., management support and an XBRL champion), and technological (e.g., compatibility, and instability). The determination of the significance of these factors will lead to an explanation for why adoption has been limited and suggest actions that regulators, audit firms, and investors can take to encourage the adoption of XBRL. Data will be gathered by surveying the appropriate decision maker for XBRL at organizations that have indicated an interest in adopting XBRL