An Overview of the Diffusion of Advanced Techniques

Abstract

This chapter addresses a variety of factors influencing the diffusion of advanced techniques in organizations with particular reference to advanced cost and management accounting practices. Having identified almost all of influencing factors addressed in the literature, this chapter also develops a model for the diffusion of advanced techniques and clarifies the most significant group of influencing factors responsible for such a diffusion process from users’ point of view. Addressing diffusion of advanced techniques in the global environment as a practical issue requires global evidence, which is almost impossible to provide in a single study. However, to address such an issue and to explore significant factors influencing the diffusion of advanced techniques in the organizations, this chapter relies on the results of recent surveys on the diffusion of advanced cost and management accounting techniques as an example. The diffusion model developed in this chapter is more likely to be applicable to any diffusion study, investigating the diffusion process of either accounting or non-accounting advanced techniques in the global environment, with minor modification.