eThesis - School of Business electronic theses

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Objectives of the Study The main objective of this study is to find out the factors that may affect the business value of the XBRL standard to the financial report receivers in Finland. The other objective is to explore the role of network effects in creation of the value to the financial report receivers. The study is exploratory, as the goal is to discover the potential business value of the technological standard that has not been widely implemented in Finland at the moment of writing this paper. This thesis sets the basis for the further studies on the business value of XBRL, if and when the standard is implemented in the case organizations.

Academic background and methodology Academic background includes the theories of productivity paradox, network effects and various theories on a business value of IT. The theoretical framework is built on the TOE framework and on the model of sources of value creation in e-business. The methodology includes the collection of qualitative data through semi-structured face-to-face interviews with representatives of the case organizations and subsequent cross-case analysis.

Findings and conclusions Findings confirm the proposition presented in the theoretical part of the thesis. Results also show that the most important environmental factor in the potential business value of XBRL at the moment is “network effects” as EU integration of public organizations deepens. Efficiency and interoperability were two business value components that have a potential of influencing companies to adopt XBRL and yield significant benefits from it. On the other side results reveal smaller significance of the factor of technology usage and the business value component of value-added services.