Analysing Accounting Professionals’ Readiness for Digital Economy Using the Theory of Organisational Readiness for Change

Abstract

The Malaysian government has launched its own initiative called MyDigital with the hope of transforming the country into a digitally-driven, high income nation and a regional leader in the digital economy. As accounting is one of the professions most affected by technological advancements, the current study seeks to examine the readiness of Malaysian accountants to embrace digitalisation using the theory of the organisational readiness to change by Weiner (2009). The study was conducted using a self-administered questionnaire, which was distributed to 384 accountants registered with Malaysia Institute of Accountants (MIA). The results revealed that change valence and task knowledge have significant positive relationship with the change commitment while the resources availability failed to prove a significant impact over change commitment. Simple regression analysis also proved that change valence, task knowledge and resources availability have a positive significant correlation towards change efficacy. The findings of the current study will provide a worthy understanding into the Malaysian accounting professionals' readiness to embrace the digital transformation, as very few in-depth studies have been conducted in this context. Besides that, the relevant authorities particularly the government, the accounting governing bodies and the businesses in general may utilize the findings with regards to the determinants of readiness amongst accounting professionals in better preparing them to become future-fit professionals. Keywords: Accounting Profession, Digital Economy, Digitalisation, Readiness, Organisational Change Theory