Two outcomes of the same market exposure? Economic vulnerability, acceptance of artificial intelligence and perceived replaceability among Korean dentists

This document preregisters a secondary analysis of an existing nationwide online survey of Korean dentists (2026; 463 respondents recruited by Korean Dental Association text message, with a linked 2024 wave). We test whether economic vulnerability (competitive pressure, practice debt, burden of fixed costs and income) is associated differently with two perceptions of artificial intelligence in dentistry: acceptance of AI and perceived replaceability of dentists by AI. The primary confirmatory test is a joint cross-equation Wald test among practice owners. A key secondary test uses competitive pressure reported two years earlier by the same dentists. The analysis plan was locked on 1 November 2026, and this document was deposited before any analysis relating the exposures to the outcomes. It discloses all results the analysts had already seen, including relations among the outcome items observed during code checks, and lists all decisions made after the plan was locked.