Balancing performance and ethics: Navigating visual recognition technology adoption in the auditing industry

This study aims to discover the key determinants affecting the adoption of visual recognition technology (VRT), a segment of artificial intelligence (AI) technology, in the auditing industry in Saudi Arabia, highlighting the tension between performance expectancy and ethical concerns. Through a quantitative approach utilizing a bilingual online questionnaire of auditors in Saudi Arabia and path analysis, we find that auditors consider the ethical concerns around VRT to be as important as its performance expectancy, traditionally the most important determinant of new technology adoption. The findings also suggest that facilitating conditions emerge as a dominant factor, raising concerns that VRT adoption is driven by resource availability rather than a thorough discussion of its costs and benefits. This paper contributes to the growing dialogue about AI ethical concerns, quantifying and highlighting the importance of ethical considerations for potential users. The paper also urges policymakers to take a balanced approach to incorporate both performance benefits and ethical considerations of the technology and devise practical ethical guidelines to facilitate the adoption of ethical AI.