Towards a Flexible Model of XBRL Diffusion

Despite the fact that researchers in information systems (IS) have given a focus in understanding the users’ adoption of information technology (IT), they put a minimal focus upon individual user’s adoption of IT. This research intends to fill this gap. Therefore, the aim of this research is to provide a comprehensive review of the extant of IS literature related to users’ adoption of IT with an emphasis on the extensible business reporting language (XBRL) and to develop proposed conceptual model based upon the review. To achieve the overall aim of this research, three objectives are proposed: (1) to review and evaluate the suitableness of antecedent factors and models of technology adoption; (2) to determine the suitable factors of the different models used to understand the individual diffusion of XBRL; and (3) to propose a conceptual model for XBRL adoption and usage. The contributions of this research are: (1) it integrates the suitable IS literature in order to consolidate knowledge of technology adoption from the user perspectives; and (2) provides clear directions for future research. To achieve this, this research, firstly, assesses the flexibility of antecedent models for studying technology adoption issues. Secondly, it joins antecedent research outcomes to develop a comprehensive and coherent picture for the adoption of technology research conducted in the IS areas. Thirdly, this paper provides a conceptual model that integrates factors from different technology adoption models to study XBRL diffusion from the perspective of the users