Given circumstances surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic, the conference was held virtually from 10 – 12 June 2021 via Zoom but was originally intended to be held in New York City, USA. The purpose of the conference was to learn more about the key concepts and frameworks from all disciplines regarding a wide range of contemporary issues in business and economic development. In addition, the conference aimed to explore how models of economic development vary internationally, and to keep abreast of developing trends in the field of business and economic development.
The title of Ms Sidat’s paper was “Factors influencing the intentions of financial planners to adopt Robo-advisors”. In her presentation, she reported on her self-developed Robo-Advisory Adoption Model (RAAM) that identifies the various factors that influence financial planners’ intentions to adopt robo-advisors. Robo-advisors are digital platforms which aim to generate financial advice based on algorithms, with little to no human intervention. The model can ultimately be adopted and used to facilitate the incorporation of robo-advisors into the financial planning process.