The determinants of inter-organizational and internal in-house adoption of XBRL: A structural equation model

Prior research has investigated organizational adoption of inter-organizational Information Technology (IT) using the Technological–Organizational–Environmental (TOE) framework. While that research has yielded important insights into the adoption of inter-organizational IT, new technologies, such as XBRL, can be used inter-organizationally or internally. As such, testing the TOE framework in both an internal and inter-organizational context is vital because the independent variables explaining internal adoption may be different from those explaining inter-organizational adoption. Using XBRL as a representative example, the TOE framework is used in this study to investigate XBRL adoption for both internal and inter-organizational purposes. The results suggest that the drivers of internal adoption differ from those of inter-organizational adoption. Based on these results, we encourage future research to consider whether the significance of technological, organizational, and environmental variables change based on whether a technology is adopted internally or inter-organizationally. From a practical perspective, the findings can help professional associations encourage adoption of XBRL.

► This study illustrates how the drivers of inter-organizational adoption of XBRL differ from those of internal adoption.
► Researchers should be aware that the innovation configuration can change based upon how an organization adopts a technology.
► Organizations that sponsor XBRL can use our results to target promotion efforts.