Reconfiguring Digital Accountability: AI-Powered Innovations and Transnational Governance in a Postnational Accounting Context

2025-06-30

AI Summary

This study examines how organizational accountability mechanisms are being reconfigured in multinational governance contexts following AI’s deep integration into critical decision-making domains such as auditing and financial reporting. Traditional accountability frameworks—grounded in control, transparency, and auditability—are increasingly inadequate. Method: Integrating the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM), Actor-Network Theory (ANT), and institutional theory, the study reconceptualizes accountability as a relational, emergent network property encompassing both compliance and legitimacy dimensions. Employing qualitative research and institutionalized network analysis, it investigates how governance logics and normative expectations shape AI adoption. Contribution/Results: The study proposes a dual-path strategy—“internal governance restructuring” and “external network coordination”—to advance responsible, globally acceptable AI governance. It delivers a novel theoretical framework and actionable policy insights, significantly enhancing multinational organizations’ capacity to fulfill accountability obligations and sustain institutional legitimacy in the AI era.

Technology Category

Philosophy and Ethics of AI: Accountability, Interpretability & ExplainabilityMultiagent Systems: Agent/AI Theories and ArchitecturesHumans and AI: AI for Accessibility

Application Category

Responsible Web: Algorithmic accountability and transparency on the webUser Modeling, Personalization and Recommendation: Accountability, Transparency, and Ethics for personalizationSocial Networks and Social Media: Generative AI / large language models and their impact on social systems

Abstract

This study explores how AI-powered digital innovations are reshaping organisational accountability in a transnational governance context. As AI systems increasingly mediate decision-making in domains such as auditing and financial reporting, traditional mechanisms of accountability, based on control, transparency, and auditability, are being destabilised. We integrate the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM), Actor-Network Theory (ANT), and institutional theory to examine how organisations adopt AI technologies in response to regulatory, ethical, and cultural pressures that transcend national boundaries. We argue that accountability is co-constructed within global socio-technical networks, shaped not only by user perceptions but also by governance logics and normative expectations. Extending TAM, we incorporate compliance and legitimacy as key factors in perceived usefulness and usability. Drawing on ANT, we reconceptualise accountability as a relational and emergent property of networked assemblages. We propose two organisational strategies including internal governance reconfiguration and external actor-network engagement to foster responsible, legitimate, and globally accepted AI adoption in the accounting domain.

Problem

• How AI reshapes organizational accountability in transnational governance
• Destabilization of traditional accountability mechanisms by AI systems
• Strategies for responsible AI adoption in accounting

Innovation

• AI-powered digital innovations reshape accountability
• Integrate TAM, ANT, and institutional theory
• Propose governance reconfiguration and network engagement