The Adoption of data mining technology within accounting information systems in publicly listed ...

248 Pages·2013·2.64 MB·English

The Adoption of Data Mining Technology within
Accounting Information Systems in Publicly
Listed Companies in Jordan

By
Asal Mustfa Taleb Al-Odat
B.Acc. Mu'tah University, Jordan, 1998
MBus(Acc). University of Technology Sydney, Australia, 2007

Submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of
DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY

School of Accounting and Corporate Governance
Faculty of Business
University of Tasmania

November, 2013
Declaration
This work contains no material which has been accepted for the award of any other
degree or diploma in any university or other institution, and to the best of my
knowledge, this thesis contains no material previously published or written by another
person, except where due reference is made in the text of this thesis.

20th November 2013
_____________________ _________________
Signature of Candidate Date
Asal Al-Odat

ENDORSEMENT
20th November 2013
_____________________ _________________
Signature of Supervisor Date
Assoc/Prof Trevor Wilmshurst

ii
Statement of authority of access

This thesis may be made available for loan and limited copying in accordance with the
copyright Act 1968.

20th November 2013
________________________ ______________
Asal Al-Odat Date

iii
Dedication

I dedicate this thesis to my family, my wife Sofia, my beloved child
Awsam and for my coming baby -By God well- for their constant
support and unconditional love.
I love you all dearly.

iv
Acknowledgements
In the name of God, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful. All praise be to Allah, the
Creator and Master of the Universe.
Though only my name appears on the cover of this dissertation, a great many people
have contributed to its production. I owe my gratitude to all those people who have
made this dissertation possible and because of whom my graduate experience has been
one that I will cherish forever.
Foremost, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to my principal supervisor
Associate Professor Trevor Wilmshurst for the continuous support of my PhD study and
research, for his patience, motivation, enthusiasm, and immense knowledge. His
guidance helped me in all the time of research and writing of this thesis. I could not have
imagined having a better advisor and mentor for my PhD study.
Besides my advisor, I would like to thank the rest of my thesis committee: Dr. William
Maguire and Professor Robert Charles Clift, for their encouragement, insightful
comments, and valuable notes.
I would like to show my greatest appreciation to my former principal supervisor
Associate Professor Victoria Wise. I can’t say thank you enough for her tremendous
support and help. Without her encouragement and guidance this PhD thesis would not
have materialised.
I would like to offer my heartfelt thanks to each respondent and interviewee who has
participated in this research. Although their names shall remain anonymous, a special
mention and deep debt of gratitude has to be given to each of you, since without your
contribution none of the outcomes of this study would have been possible.
I would like to acknowledge the financial support of Al-Houssin Bin Talal University in
Jordan for the award of a Postgraduate Research Studentship that provided the necessary
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financial support for this research. In addition, I gratefully acknowledge the substantial
financial support of University of Tasmania in their kind support and helping hand
through my PhD study.
Many friends in Australia and Jordan have helped me stay sane through my PhD study
(too many to list here but you know who you are!). Their support and care helped me
overcome setbacks and stay focused on my PhD study. I greatly value their friendship
and I deeply appreciate their belief in me.
My parents had to grudgingly learn to accept my separation from them and still gave me
nothing but support, day after day, my love and gratitude for them can hardly be
expressed in words.
I would like to thank my loved ones, my sister Enas and my two brothers Anas and
Eyas, who have supported me throughout the entire process, both by keeping me
harmonious and helping me to put pieces of this puzzle together. I will be grateful
forever for your love.
Next on the list, a massive thank you to my child Awsam, for his love and support and
for putting up with my moods and grumpiness at times.
Last, but by no means least, I am fortunate that I have married the best person out there
for me, my best friend, soul-mate, and wife Sofia. There are no words to convey how
much I love her. Sofia has been a true and great supporter and has unconditionally loved
me during my good and bad times. She has been non-judgmental of me and instrumental
in instilling confidence. She has faith in me and my intellect even when I felt like
digging a hole and crawling into one because I didn’t have faith in myself. These past
several years have not been an easy ride, both academically and personally. I truly thank
Sofia for sticking by my side, even when I was irritable and depressed. I feel that we
both learned a lot about life and strengthened our commitment and determination to each
other and to live life to the fullest.
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Table of Contents
Declaration ........................................................................................................ ii
Statement of authority of access .................................................................... iii
Dedication......................................................................................................... iv
Acknowledgements .......................................................................................... v
List of Figures ................................................................................................ xiv
List of Tables ................................................................................................... xv
List of Acronyms and Abbreviations ......................................................... xviii
Abstract .......................................................................................................... xix
1 Introduction ................................................................................................ 1
1.1 Background .......................................................................................................... 1
1.2 Research problem and objectives ......................................................................... 2
1.3 Justification and motivation for this research ...................................................... 5
1.4 The thesis context ................................................................................................ 7
1.5 Research approach and methodology .................................................................. 7
1.5.1 Data analysis ................................................................................................ 8
1.6 Outline of the thesis ............................................................................................. 8
2 Literature review ........................................................................................ 9
2.1 Introduction .......................................................................................................... 9
2.2 Accounting information system and data mining background ............................ 9
2.2.1 Accounting information system ................................................................... 9
2.2.2 Accounting information systems data quality ............................................ 11
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2.2.3 Data Mining ............................................................................................... 13
2.2.4 Defining data mining.................................................................................. 13
2.2.5 How does data mining work? ..................................................................... 15
2.2.6 Data mining tasks and functionalities ........................................................ 16
2.3 The growing importance IT and DM adoption decisions .................................. 20
2.4 Internal factors affecting data mining adoption decisions ................................. 21
2.4.1 Organisational components ........................................................................ 21
2.4.2 Information technology and management .................................................. 23
2.4.3 Awareness about and intention to adopt data mining ................................ 25
2.5 Information technology and data mining adoption process ............................... 26
2.6 Approaches to model development .................................................................... 27
2.6.1 Structural model ......................................................................................... 29
2.6.2 Socio-technical model ................................................................................ 32
2.7 Information technology adoption in developing countries ................................ 35
2.8 Observations and directions ............................................................................... 39
2.9 Research hypotheses .......................................................................................... 42
2.10 Conclusion ......................................................................................................... 43
3 Management Styles ................................................................................. 45
3.1 Introduction ........................................................................................................ 45
3.2 Traditional management styles .......................................................................... 45
3.3 The new management style ................................................................................ 51
3.4 Management styles in developing countries ...................................................... 56
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3.4.1 Management styles in Arab countries ........................................................ 58
3.5 Conclusion ......................................................................................................... 63
4 Attitude towards IT and DM (Management point of view) .................... 65
4.1 Introduction ........................................................................................................ 65
4.2 The importance of attitudes ............................................................................... 65
4.3 Individual’s attitude towards information technology and data mining ............ 68
4.4 Managers’ attitudes toward information technology and data mining .............. 70
4.5 Demographic characteristics .............................................................................. 71
4.6 Conceptual Framework ...................................................................................... 74
4.7 Summary ............................................................................................................ 75
5 Research Methodology ........................................................................... 76
5.1 Introduction ........................................................................................................ 76
5.2 Research design ................................................................................................. 76
5.3 Research philosophy .......................................................................................... 78
5.4 The paradigms adopted in this study ................................................................. 79
5.4.1 Post-positivism paradigm ........................................................................... 79
5.4.2 The interpretive paradigm .......................................................................... 81
5.4.3 Selection and justification of the research paradigms for this study .......... 82
5.5 Classifications of information technology and data mining research studies .... 83
5.5.1 Explanatory (Analytical) research.............................................................. 83
5.5.2 Exploratory research .................................................................................. 83
5.5.3 Justification for the research classification of this study ........................... 84
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5.6 Quantitative and qualitative research methods .................................................. 85
5.7 This research strategy ........................................................................................ 87
5.8 Data collection preparation and methods ........................................................... 87
5.8.1 The questionnaire ....................................................................................... 93
5.8.2 The interviews ............................................................................................ 95
5.9 Sample selection ................................................................................................ 95
5.10 Data analysis ...................................................................................................... 97
5.11 Ethical considerations ...................................................................................... 101
5.12 Conclusion ....................................................................................................... 102
6 Discussion of the Results of Data Collection ...................................... 104
6.1 Introduction ...................................................................................................... 104
6.2 The descriptive analysis of the survey population ........................................... 104
6.3 The descriptive analysis of the interviewees ................................................... 107
6.4 The reliability of the questionnaire instruments .............................................. 108
6.5 Satisfaction with the current accounting information system .......................... 108
6.6 Using packages to assist in analysing an accounting data within accounting
information systems ................................................................................................... 110
6.7 Awareness and knowledge of data mining ...................................................... 111
6.8 Data mining technologies implementation ...................................................... 113
6.9 Research questions discussion ......................................................................... 114
6.9.1 Jordanian publicly listed companies' management styles ........................ 114
6.9.2 Relationship between managers' attitudes towards IT and DM and their
styles of management ............................................................................................. 120
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