Exploring Factors Influencing Adoption of Blockchain in Accounting Applications using Technology–Organization–Environment Framework

Blockchain is one of the most promising technological innovations of recent times, with the potential to change the very way information systems are used by the accounting function. It is however expected to be disruptive and yet to see high adoption rates. Identification of factors influencing the adoption is required to empower the accounting fraternity to harness the full potential of blockchains. This study is one of the first to inductively explore and develop an adoption model for blockchains as well as for accounting applications with theoretical groundings in the Technology-Organization-Environment (TOE) framework, which has been extended with a variable for trust. Triangulation of methods and data sources used in this study contributed to the depth of research and understanding. A comprehensive literature review was first conducted. Its results were further enhanced using the encoding methodology, based on which influencing factors were identified and a model for adoption was developed. A qualitative exploratory study was undertaken next on twelve organizations at the cusp of adoption for accounting applications. Eight significant factors influencing the adoption thus identified are: relative advantage, uncertainty, top management support, technology readiness, industry, regulatory environment, competitive pressure and trust. The study contributes to revealing the relevance of blockchain to accounting while highlighting potential disruptions to enable better evaluation of the technology for adoption. The results may have limited generalizability, which may be overcome through a quantitative study in the future

Exploring Factors Influencing Organizational Adoption of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Initiatives

Background: Globalization has resulted in social, economic, political, commercial, and technological integration. A social problem needs a global collaborative view to find a solution. Wide-ranging partnerships are essential to achieve developmental goals, with public and private partners pooling their resources and competencies. The private sector contributes by engaging in corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives. These initiatives can significantly impact by leveraging emerging technologies such as Artificial Intelligence (AI). While many support AI, some believe that AI is a threat to humanity. With mixed attitudes towards AI, its adoption in CSR is somewhat limited. This research leverages the Technology-Organization-Environment (TOE) framework to explore factors influencing AI adoption intention from an organizational perspective. Method: The factors were identified from a thorough literature review and mapped with Carroll\u27s CSR framework. The theorized model was tested via a sample response of 124 Indian firms. Results: The findings of this research share insight into the influence of the nine technological, organizational, and environmental factors and dives deeper through the post-hoc analysis of the variations due to the size of the firm, public or private orientation, and industry sector. Conclusions: Along with the contributions to literature and theory, this research study has several significant contributions to firms, AI products, service companies, AI strategists, and application developers

Do I Desire Chatbots to be like Humans? Exploring Factors for Adoption of Chatbots for Financial Services

AI-powered chatbots are gaining traction across various industries, especially in the financial sector. Despite these implementations, chatbot adoption and usage among consumers is still low. Grounding on the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology 2 (UTAUT2) model and the Belief Desire Intentions (BDI) model, this study explores factors influencing the adoption of chatbots for financial sectors by emphasizing on the role of user desires in addition to human beliefs. Explicitly, the research hypothesizes the role of the humanness in chatbots influencing consumer adoption in the financial services sector. The suggested research model was tested via a sample of possible adopters from India, the USA, and Singapore. Results highlight the key role of consumer desires to make artificial machines indistinguishable from human beings. Implications for research and practice are also presented

Examining Utilitarian and Hedonic Factors and their Moderators for Virtual World Collaborations

Although experts sense a big future for virtual worlds (VWs) in the workplace scenario, their use in the business world is still in a nascent stage. A key challenge for organizations is to motivate users for utilizing VW for workplace related tasks. This research investigates the behavioral intention (BI) to use VW as a workplace ‘collaboration tool’. The model, grounded in literature on ‘motivations’ and ‘task success characteristics’, not only examines the direct effects of ‘utilitarian’ and ‘hedonic’ factors on VW usage intentions but also the moderating role of ‘familiarity’ and ‘control’. Results suggest a salient role of ‘utilitarian’ as compared to ‘hedonic’ factors and demonstrate the importance of considering the moderating effects of ‘familiarity’ and ‘control’ in determining the intention to use VW for collaborations. Implications for research and practice are also discussed

A study on rapid diagnosis (by PCR) and cost-effective treatment of pulmonary mycosis

Background: Incidence of Pulmonary Mycosis is rampantly growing in critically ill patients. This study was designed to comparatively evaluate conventional and molecular method-Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) for detecting Candida and Aspergillus species in Brocho-Alveolar Lavage (BAL) samples and secondarily to find out the Cost-Effective treatment for Pulmonary Mycosis.Methods: In this study 100 BAL-specimens were collected from patients suspected of Pulmonary Mycosis. These samples were examined for Aspergillus and Candida species by preparation of wet smear using potassium hydroxide, Gram staining, Culture media and Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR). For Cost-Effectiveness analysis(CEA), a decision tree model was constructed for Anidulafungin and Fluconazole The probability of treatment success and mortality rate were extracted from published Randomized Control Trials. Incremental Cost Effectiveness Ratio (ICER) was calculated.Results: Out of 100 samples, 22 were found to be positive for mycotic infections, 9 were detected as Candida and 13 as Aspergillus. On comparing with KOH and Culture, it was observed that all KOH positive and all Culture positive fungal infections were PCR positive. In no cases PCR negative was identified either culture or KOH positive. This establishes the superiority of PCR over conventional diagnostic methods. Anidulafungin was associated with an Incremental Cost Effectiveness Ratio (ICER) of INR 1,13,217 per LY saved, which was below the implicit ICER threshold for India.Conclusions: PCR is a novel molecular method for early and definitive diagnosis of fungal infection and Aidulafungin appears to be the cost-effective drug for treatment of Pulmonary Mycosis

ROLE OF COGNITIVE ABSORPTION AND TRUST FOR COLLABORATION IN VIRTUAL WORLD

Virtual worlds (VWs) have paved a new and important channel for user collaboration and information sharing. Businesses are now considering using VWs as innovative means for collaboration and information sharing among its organizational members. Despite the huge potential of VWs for harnessing and increasing the flow of ideas among organizations, research on the subject is rather sparse. Drawing on the social cognitive theory, we re-specify the concept of cognitive absorption (CA) in the context of VWs by theorizing environmental factors in addition to the individual factors as antecedents of CA. Further, by integrating CA with ‘trust’ we develop a VW usage model. We test the specified model with data collected from 197 VW users in Singapore. Results display the important roles that both CA and ‘trust’ play in the usage of VW. Further, through a post-hoc analysis we demonstrate the imperative need for considering both CA and ‘trust’, together in the proposed VW usage model. The study also delineates a set of implications for research and practice

Watch Out-It’s My Private Space! Examining the Influence of Technology Driven Intrusions on Employee Performance

In this research we draw upon organizational literature on spatial intrusion to identify two components of technology related employee intrusion concerns -- employee accessibility and employee visibility. Situating our arguments in learning and control perspectives, we theorize the influence of employee ‘accessibility’ and ‘visibility’ on two technology enabled employee outcomes of productivity and innovation. We test the proposed research model through a survey of senior organizational managers who regularly use organizational technologies for executing their routine tasks. Results indicate that employee accessibility generally has positive while employee visibility has negative relationship with performance outcomes. Findings have significant implications for research and practice because they show that spatial intrusion does not necessarily have a negative influence on employee performance

Does Technostress Inhibit Employee Innovation? Examining the Linear and Curvilinear Influence of Technostress Creators

Despite the increasing quantum of research on technostress, three particularly noteworthy gaps remain. First, though prior studies have described “technostress creators” through the five dimensions techno-overload, techno-invasion, techno-complexity, techno-insecurity, and techno-uncertainty in an aggregated way, they have not adequately considered how these technostress creators individually influence job outcomes. Second, though past organizational research suggests a curvilinear relationship between job stress and job outcomes, research has yet to examine whether the stress-performance dynamics for the technostress context follows the organizational stress literature. Third, even though the literature emphasizes information and communication technology (ICT)-enabled innovation in firms, research has not explored what influence the technostress creators have on ICT-enabled innovation in-depth. Grounding our arguments in the control theory of occupational stress and conservation of resources (COR) theory, we first theorize the linear and curvilinear relationships for each of the five technostress creators with ICT-enabled employee innovation and then test the hypothesized relationships via conducting a survey on organizational employees who regularly used ICTs for professional tasks. The results offer a nuanced understanding about the nature of individual technostress creators and their relationships with ICT-enabled employee innovation. On the practical front, our research paves the way for more meaningful technostress-management strategies in organizations

Comparison of efficacy and safety of oral azithromycin and oral doxycycline in acne vulgaris

Background: Acne vulgaris is a chronic inflammatory disease of the pilosebaceous unit with considerable psychosocial impact. Oral azithromycin or oral doxycycline can be used for the management of moderate and severe acne vulgaris. However, there is no consensus on which antibiotic is superior and the optimal dose for management.Methods: A prospective randomized interventional study was carried out among 120 patients of moderate to severe acne vulgaris. The patients were randomized into group A and B. While group A was prescribed oral azithromycin 500 mg three times a week, group B was given oral doxycycline 100 mg daily for 12 weeks. Topical clindamycin twice daily application was also given. Global Acne Grading Scale (GAGS) score was recorded at baseline and at 2nd, 4th, 8th and 12th weeks.Results: GAGS score at baseline in azithromycin (n = 53) and doxycycline (n = 55) group was 31.98±4.49 and 30.63±3.78 respectively (p value >0.05). 83.91±6.83% (p 0.05). 15.09% patients in azithromycin group and 20% patients in doxycycline group reported adverse effects. The most commonly reported adverse effect was diarrhoea. All adverse effects were of ‘mild’ category and causality assessment was ‘possible’.Conclusions: Oral azithromycin is equally efficacious but safer alternative to oral doxycycline for the management of acne vulgaris