Understanding inhibitors to XBRL adoption: an empirical investigation

Purpose This study aims to investigate the awareness of extensible business reporting language (XBRL) and the perception of chartered accountants of India concerning the inhibitors of XBRL adoption, namely, environmental, organizational and innovation factors developed by Troshani and Rao (2007) from Rogers’ innovation diffusion theory. In addition, the analysis also investigated the relationship between the perception of issues regarding XBRL adoption and individual characteristics (training, age, gender and professional experience). Design/methodology/approach A Web-based questionnaire was circulated through e-mail to chartered accountants registered with the Institute of Chartered Accountants India (ICAI) and 233 chartered accountants responded to the questionnaire. The data was analyzed using reliability statistics and multivariate regression analyses. Findings The results indicate that accountants perceived that environmental, organizational and innovational factors were challenging in adopting XBRL. Interestingly, training and experience were significant factors in explaining respondents’ perceptions. Practical implications From a practical panorama, the significance of issues implies that associations such as XBRL International, XBRL India, ICAI and the Ministry of Corporate Affairs should collectively take the appropriate steps to sustain and ameliorate the reliability and adoption of XBRL. Social implications The results can motivate ICAI/Institute of Company Secretaries of India (ICSI) courses to teach academic content about XBRL. Originality/value The present study differs from previous research because it examines the inhibitors in adopting XBRL, namely, environmental, organizational and innovation factors, in an empirical setting. Moreover, to the best of the author’s knowledge, this is the first study to analyze the influence of individual factors on accountants’ perceptions about inhibitors of XBRL adoption.