Schedule and location

Registration 

Speakers

Organizer

Professor Virpi Tuunainen, Aalto University School of Business, Finland.

Overview

Digital technologies such as intelligent and smart devices and processes, augmented reality, virtual reality,  Internet of Things,  block chain technologies  are associated with digitization and disruption of business and social innovation, entrepreneurial processes, products and services that are creating various forms of capital (knowledge, human, social, and financial);  new organizational, network, and community structures;  a new cadre of business models, platforms, social movements, and so on. Digital  transformations and disruptions introduce a variety of new behavioral, social, and economic problems, opportunities, and phenomena. Many leading journals are calling for new theory building. In its forthcoming special issue, MIS Quarterly states, ”We need next-generation theories to understand the new world we face and try to create...We want papers that grapple intellectually with the significant issues and challenges of our time. This does not mean we have a preference for mere novelty. In fact, we seek papers that reflect on older ideas just as much as we seek papers creating new ideas” (see Burton-Jones et al., 2018 Call for papers: Next-Generation Theories  https://www.misq.org/skin/frontend/default/misq/pdf/CurrentCalls/NextGenerationIS_Full.pdf).

Inspired by the MIS Quarterly call for papers on next generation theorizing, this seminar invites Ph.D. students, postdocs, junior as well as seasoned scholars for rehearsing and practicing theorizing around a significant digital phenomenon, process, problem, or opportunity of their interest.

We will study (1) seminal works as well as  recent contributions on theorizing, (2) discuss exemplar articles that advance theory  in information systems, and (3) advance  theory building through a series of exercises on the participant’s chosen  question/problem/opportunity.

In this course, the participants learn to:

• Appreciate different ways in which theoretical contributions can be made and presented around digital phenomena
• Enhance ability to conceptualize and theorize about digital related phenomena
• Understand how to evaluate pure theory papers for their theoretical contribution

Detailed Program

Day 1: Theorizing and Writing Theory Papers– Thursday 27 September 2018

Day 2: Advancing Your Nascent Theory– Thursday 27 September 2018

Readings/References

Alvesson, M. and Sandberg, J. (2011). Generating research questions through problematization. Academy of Management Review, 36, 2, 247-271.

Baggini, J. (2016). The Edge of Reason. New Haven: Yale University Press.

Barley, S. (2006). When I write my masterpiece: Thoughts on what makes a paper interesting. Academy of Management Journal, 49, 1, 16-20.

Bem, D. (1995), Writing a review article for the psychological bulletin, Psychological Bulletin, 118, 2, 172-177.

Bem, D. (2003). Writing the empirical journal article. In Darley, J. M., Zanna, M. P., & Roediger III, H. L. (Eds)  (2003). The Compleat Academic: A Practical Guide for the Beginning Social Scientist, 2nd Edition. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.

Colquitt, J. and Zapata-Phelan, C. (2007). Trends in theory building and theory testing: A five-decade study of the Academy of Management Journal. Academy of Management Journal, 50, 6, 1281-1303.

Feldman, D. (2004). What are we talking about when we talk about theory? Journal of Management, 30, 5, 565-567.

Gregor, S. (2006). The nature of theory in information systems. MIS Quarterly, 30, 3, 611-642.

Gregor, S. (2017 to appear). On Theory. In R. Galliers and M-K. Stein. The Routledge Companion to Management Information Systems.

Gregor, S. and Hevner, A. (2013). Positioning and presenting design science research for maximum impact, MIS Quarterly, 37, 2, 337-355.

Gregor, S. and Jones, D. (2007). The anatomy of a design theory. Journal of the Association of Information Systems, 8, 5, Article 19, 312-335.

Gregor, S., Müller, O., and Seidel, S. (2013). Reflection, abstraction, and theorizing in design and development research, Proceedings of European Conference on Information Systems, June, University of Utrecht, Utrecht, Netherlands, 5-8 June.

Jaccard, J. and Jacoby, J. (2010). Theory Construction and Model-Building Skills. New York: The Guilford Press.

Kim, G., Shin, B., Kim, K. K., and Lee, H. G. (2011), IT Capabilities, process-oriented dynamic capabilities, and firm financial performance. Journal of the Association for Information Systems, 12, 7, 1.

Komiak, S. and Benbasat, I. (2006). The effects of personalization and familiarity on trust and adoption of recommendation agents. MIS Quarterly, 30, 4, 941-960.

Kuechler, W. and Vaishnavi, V. (2012). A framework for theory development in design science research: Multiple perspectives. Journal of the Association for Information Systems, 13, 6.

Li, S. and Karahanna, E. (2015). Online recommendation systems in a B2C e-commerce context: A review and future directions. Journal of the Association for Information Systems, 16, 2, 2.

Neuman, W. (2006). Social Research Methods Qualitative and Quantitative Approaches. Boston, MA: Pearson.

Paré, G., Trudel, M. C., Jaana, M., & Kitsiou, S. (2015). Synthesizing information systems knowledge: A typology of literature reviews. Information & Management, 52, 2, 183-199.

Peffers, K., Tuunanen, T., Rothenberger, M. and Chatterjee, S. (2007-8). A design science research methodology for information systems research. Journal of Management Information Systems, 24, 3, 45-77.

Rivard, S. (2014). Editor’s comments: The ions of theory construction, MIS Quarterly, 38, 2, ii-xii.

Schultze, U. (2015). Skirting SLR’s language trap: Reframing the ‘systematic’ versus ‘traditional’ literature review opposition as a continuum. Information & Management, 30, 180-184.

Sein, M., Henfridsson, O., Purao, S., Rossi, M. and Lindgren, R. (2011). Action design research. MIS Quarterly, 35, 1, 37–56.

Weber, R. (2012). Evaluating and developing theories in the information systems discipline. Journal of the Association for Information Systems, 13, 1.

Webster, J. and Watson, R. (2002). Analysing the past to prepare for the future: Writing a literature review. MIS Quarterly, 26, 2, xiii-xxiii.

Weick, K. (1995). What theory is not, theorizing is, Administrative Science Quarterly, 40, 3, 385-390.

Credit points

Registration fee

This seminar is free-of-charge for Inforte.fi member organization's staff and their PhD students. For others the participation fee is 400 €. The participation fee includes access to the event and the event materials. Lunch and dinner are not included.