The determinants of eXtensible Business Reporting Language (XBRL) adoption: a cross-country study

This paper investigates the determinants of eXtensible Business Reporting Language (XBRL) adoption using the Technology-Organizational-Environment (TOE) framework. This framework explains how the process of adopting and implementing XBRL is influenced by the technological context (country's firm-level technology absorption and technological capacity), organizational context (education) and environmental context (level of economic development; degree of external economic openness; investor protection; accounting system and the burden of government regulation). Using a sample of 78 countries during the period 2009–2017, we find that countries with high levels of technology absorption, higher levels of economic development and strong investor protection are more likely to adopt XBRL.