Determinants of Technology Acceptance for the Malaysian Business Reporting System (MBRS) among Company Secretaries: A Scoping Review

MBRS which was developed by Suruhanjaya Syarikat Malaysia (SSM) in 2018 before being made into mandatory MBRS 2.0 from 2024-2025 is an innovation in Malaysia business reporting system. As the principal preparers of financial statements and annual returns in the form of eXtensible Business Reporting Language (XBRL) in Malaysia, company secretaries play a crucial role in ensuring successful adoption of MBRS. This scoping review seeks to map the current empirical and theoretical research related to factors that influence XBRL/MBRS adoption among company secretaries in Malaysia; identify existing research gaps in the literature; and establish theoretical reasons to combine UTAUT and Stakeholder Salience Theory (Mitchell, Agle and Wood, 1997). A systematic search was conducted following the five stages of the scoping review framework proposed by Arksey and O'Malley (2005): (1) identifying the research question; (2) identifying relevant studies; (3) study selection; (4) charting the data; and (5) collating, summarising, and reporting the results. Only records containing empirical or theoretical research relevant to XBRL/MBRS adoption were retained, yielding a final corpus of 42 peer-reviewed articles for thematic synthesis. Results: Five themes emerged: (1) the progression and adoption paths of XBRL globally; (2) MBRS implementation in Malaysia; (3) the professional role of company secretaries; (4) technology acceptance theory, where UTAUT showed greater explanatory power; and (5) attributes of Stakeholder Salience as normative adoption pressure. The review yielded six main areas of research gap: lack of studies on company secretary specific MBRS adoption, UTAUT-Stakeholder Salience integration, and inadequate research on financial performance as an outcome of adoption. This review establishes a thorough evidence base for the doctoral research that follows, which uses Partial Least Squares-Structural Equation Modelling (PLS-SEM) to test ten hypotheses concerning how UTAUT and Stakeholder Salience constructs influence Behavioural Intention, with Organisation Size as a moderating variable and Financial Performance as the distal outcome. Literature spanning XBRL, MBRS, UTAUT, TAM, and Stakeholder Theory was drawn upon throughout.

Technology Acceptance, Theory Analysis, Scoping Analysis

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