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TJTJ7706 Theory and Research in Information Systems 4 ECTS

University of Jyväskylä, Faculty of information technology will open a doctoral course ”Theory and Research in Information Systems 4 ECTS”.

Registration

Students of University of Jyväskylä register to the course in Sisu (course TJTJ7706).

For others:

Closed.

After registration please fill the following form and send it as pdf file by email to : https://inforte.jyu.fi/events/materials/registration-form-1

 

Course Description

This course focuses on theory building and its application within information systems (IS) research, the nature of the theory, and how to apply a specific approach for theory building in IS. Students will start by a pre-course assignment to familiarize themselves with the engaged scholarship approach to building theories. We continue by reviewing and discussing key literature on selected topics to understand the theory building in general. This is followed by a critical examination and evaluation of specific topics in IS research and theory building, and we look at deductive, inductive, and abductive theory building through three exemplars: variance, process, and design theories. Furthermore, we study key issues of framing and positioning your theory, such as, theoretical precision and generalization.

The course gives the students a broad understanding of theory building in management and business studies, and more specifically in IS, and how to apply this knowledge for a doctoral research project. The course applies flipped class and workshop format to advance the learning-by-doing approach to study theory building.

Goals of the Course

This course is designed to introduce doctoral students to theory building in management and business studies in general but how to apply this knowledge in IS research and its application for a doctoral research project. In addition, students need to understand the nature of theories and current research issues and themes in theory building.

Learning Outcomes

  1. The student will have a good knowledge and understanding of theory building and its application within information systems (IS) research theory building and its application within information systems (IS) research This course focuses on theory building and its application within information systems (IS) research theory building and its application within IS research.
  2. The student will gain competence in critiquing theory building research articles published in some of the leading academic IS and related outlets.
  3. The student will have a good knowledge and understanding of ontological and epistemological issues related to IS research and can apply these to their own doctoral research projects.
  4. The student will gain competence in critical thinking, and analysis and synthesis of academic sources

Class Format & Size

The course applies flipped class and workshop format to advance the learning-by-doing approach to study theory building. During semester will have seven workshops (each three hours) offered in-class and online format synchronously (i.e. hybrid format). The classes will not be recorded to allow free interaction by the students and the lecturer.

The class size is limited to 10 in-class students and 10 online students to enable a workshop working environment for the class. The expectation is that students participate to all workshop sessions and return weekly assignments and learning diaries of their pedagogical progress. See details about the assignments and assessment in below.

Teaching Staff  

 

Prof. Tuure Tuunanen

Room Ag D514.3


Tel: +358 40 805 4628

Email: tuure.t.tuunanen@jyu.fi

 

Weekly office hours: https://calendly.com/tuuretuunanen/office-hours  

Lectures               

Week 1 Introduction to the Course and Theory Building

30th October, 14:00-17:00 / Ag D513.1 (Kalle) / Zoom

  • Introduction to the course, assignments, and the theory building and different definitions of a theory.
  • Students present the pre-course assignment findings on engaged scholarship and theory building in management and business studies.

Week 2 Building Variance Theories by Deduction

6th November, 14:00-17:00 / Ag D513.1 (Kalle) / Zoom

  • A deeper inspection to building variance theories. More specifically, we will look a general issues deductive theory building and more specifically multilevel IS theorizing issues.
  • Students present their selection of multilevel variance IS theories, and we discuss the key issues of developing such theories.

Week 3 Building Process Theories by Induction

13th November, 14:00-17:00 / Ag D513.1 (Kalle) / Zoom

  • A deeper inspection to building process theories. More specifically, we will look a general issues inductive theory building and more specifically IS theorizing issues related to these.
  • Students present their selection of IS process theories, and we discuss the key issues of developing such theories.

Week 4 Building Design Theories by Abduction

20nd November, 14:00-17:00 / Ag D513.1 (Kalle) / Zoom

  • A deeper inspection to building design theories. More specifically, we will look a general issues abductive theory building and more specifically design theorizing issues in IS research.
  • Students present their selection of design theories in IS, and we discuss the key issues of developing such theories.

Week 5 Revisiting Theories I – Boundary Conditions and Construct Clarity

27th November, 14:00-17:00 / Ag D513.1 (Kalle) / Zoom

  • A deeper inspection to the important aspects of theories. More specifically, we will look at boundary conditions and construct clarity for theories in general and more specifically related issues in IS research.
  • Students return to one of the earlier presented theories and discuss the boundary conditions and construct clarity of these theories.

Week 6 Revisiting Theories II – Theoretical Precision and Generalization

4th December, 14:00-17:00 / Ag D513.1 (Kalle) / Zoom

  • A deeper inspection to the important aspects of theories. More specifically, we will look at theoretical precision in general and more specifically related issues in generalization of IS theories.
  • Students return to one of the earlier presented theories and discuss the theoretical precision of these theories.

Week 7 Future of Theory Building in IS & Course Assignment Planning

11th December, 14:00-17:00 / Ag D513.1 (Kalle) / Zoom

  • A deeper inspection to the important aspects of future of theorizing in IS research. More specifically, we will look at computationally intensive and stage theories, and the concept of theory blending.
  • Course assignment planning and Q&A session for the students.

Learning Resources

This course has no textbook since most readings are from academic journals and conference proceedings. The reading package is provided on the Moodle site for the students (cf. Appendix). However, students are expected to read more widely, including additional articles from any recognized journal in IS. Useful literature can also be obtained from the AIS Digital Library, the ACM Digital Library, and other bibliographic databases such as ABI/Inform, Science Direct, or the Emerald Library. Many of these libraries and databases are available online, e.g., from the University of Jyväskylä Library at https://kirjasto.jyu.fi/ (usually, you must log in from outside the university network). Additional resources can be found in the ISWorld Section on Research and Scholarship at http://www.isworld.org/.

Note: You are provided copies of copyrighted materials made for educational purposes. These include extracts of copyright works copied under copyright licenses. You may not make these materials available to other persons nor make a further copy for any other purpose. Failure to comply with the terms of this warning may expose you to legal action by a rights owner and/or disciplinary action by the University.

 

Pre-Course Assignment

Students review the engaged scholarship approach by Van de Ven (2007) and reflect their approach to theory building in terms of ontology and epistemology. The pre-course assignment is marked pass/failed. Details of how to structure your presentations are included in the Moodle site of the course. The pre-course assignment submission deadline is 28th October 2024.

Course Assignment

Students write a report based on their pre-assignment slide deck and the weekly learning topics for the course. The course assignment is marked pass/failed. Details of how to structure your written report and length requirements are included in the Moodle site of the course.

Assessment

Pre-Course Assignment        20%

Class Participation                40%

Post-Course Assignment        40%

Note: If the student is late submitting the assignment(s), the student will fail that course assessment.

Assessment Detail

Pre-Course Assignment will be marked pass/failed. The assignment is a ‘take home’ exam, and it will assess how well the students have understood the given material and how they can apply the concepts to develop a doctoral research project. The assignment deliverable is a MS PowerPoint (or equivalent) slide deck. Students will be provided with a marking guide during the course on the Moodle site for the course.

Class Participation will be marked pass/failed. If a student does not participate in weekly course assignment presentations and/or submit their weekly self-assessment of their learning progress, the weekly marks are deducted from the overall marks for the student. The weekly self-assessment will be done via online form. The online form and how-to instructions for the weekly presentations are provided on the Moodle site for the course.

Course Assignment will be marked pass/failed. The assignment is a ‘take home’ exam, and it will assess how well the students have understood the given material and how they can apply the concepts to develop a doctoral research project. The assignment deliverable is a written report. Students will be provided with a marking guide  during the course on the Moodle site for the course.

The research project report should be submitted to the Moodle course site. The deadline for submission is 15th January 2025.

Note: For passing the course, the students need to have:

  • At least 50% of marks for all assessments
  • At least 50% of the total marks.

Course Work Time Requirement (4 ECTS = 108h)

Pre-Course Assignment (incl. reading the book)                                       :   27 hours

Class Participation & Presentations                                                                               :   21 hours

Class Preparation                 (incl. presentations)                                                          :   33 hours

Course Assignment Report                                                                      :   27 hours

TOTAL           :   108 hours

Course Advice

Prerequisites: Students should have completed the qualitative, quantitative research, design science research methods courses (TJTJ7701-3 or similar) and (or be in the process of completing) a general philosophy of science course before enrolling in this course.

The course will use an in-class workshop format. It is organized as a series of workshops that involve active student participation.

Please also refer to the additional handouts about the University's policy on plagiarism. This course will use turnitin.com, a software application, to assess your written work. The outcome of this assessment will be considered for your final grade in the course.

Generative artificial intelligence (such as ChatGPT, etc.) tool use should follow the University of Jyväskylä policy[1]. The use is generally permitted, but the student should generate the final text and insights offered in the course assessment. For details, see the university policy document.

Appendix: Reading Package

Note: The reading package is not meant to be comprehensive but the starting point for an intellectual journey to understand the different facets of the theory building in IS research. Suggested additional readings can be found, e.g., at https://aisnet.org/page/ISResearch.

Mandatory readings for the Pre-Course Assignment:

Van de Ven, A. H. (2007). Engaged scholarship: A guide for organizational and social research. Oxford University Press, USA.

Mandatory readings for the course:

Note: The readings are sorted according to the order you should read them. The articles are available for you in the Moodle learning environment.

Week 1 – Introduction to Theory Building

  1. Rivard, S. (2021). Theory building is neither an art nor a science. It is a craft. Journal of Information Technology, 36(3), 316-328.
  2. Mueller, B., & Urbach, N. (2017). Understanding the Why, What, and How of Theories in IS Research. Communications of the Association for Information Systems, 41(17), 349-388.
  3. Gregor, S. (2006). The Nature of Theory in Information Systems. MIS Quarterly, 30(3), 611-642.
  4. Markus, M. L., & Rowe, F. (2018). Is IT changing the world? Conceptions of causality for information systems theorizing. MIS Quarterly, 42(4), 1255-1280.

Week 2 – Building Variance Theories by Deduction

  1. Weber, R. (2012). Evaluating and developing theories in the information systems discipline. Journal of the Association for Information systems, 13(1), 2.
  2. Bacharach, S. B. 1989. Organizational Theories: Some Criteria for Evaluation. Academy of Management Review, 14(4): 496-515.
  3. Petter, S., Straub, D., & Rai, A. 2007. Specifying Formative Constructs In Information Systems Research. MIS Quarterly, 31(4): 623-656.
  4. Zhang, M., and Gable, G., 2017, A Systematic Framework for Multilevel Theorizing in Information Systems Research, Information Systems Research, 28(2): 203-224.

Week 3 ­­– Building Process Theories by Induction

  1. Burton-Jones, A., McLean, E. R., & Monod, E. (2015). Theoretical perspectives in IS research: from variance and process to conceptual latitude and conceptual fit. European Journal of Information Systems, 24(6), 664-679.
  2. Pentland, B. T. 2003. Sequential Variety in Work Processes. Organization Science, 14(5): 528-540.
  3. Van de Ven, A. H. & Pool, M. S. 1995. Explaining Development and Change in Organizations. Academy of Management Review, 20(3): 510-540.
  4. Langley, A. 1999. Strategies For Theorizing from Process Data. Academy of Management Review, 24(4): 691-710.

Week 4 – Building Design Theories by Abduction

  1. Gregor, S., & Hevner, A. R. (2013). Positioning and presenting design science research for maximum impact. MIS Quarterly, 337-355.
  2. Mandviwalla, M. (2015). Generating and justifying design theory. Journal of the Association for Information Systems, 16(5), 3.
  3. Gregor, S., Chandra Kruse, L., & Seidel, S. (2020). The anatomy of a design principle. Journal of the Association for Information Systems, 21(6), 2.
  4. Tuunanen, T., Winter, R. and vom Brocke J. (2024) Dealing with Complexity in Design Science Research: A Methodology Using Design Echelons, in press, MIS Quarterly, 48(2).

Week 5 – Boundary Conditions and Construct Clarity

  1. Busse, C., Kach, A. P., & Wagner, S. M. (2017). Boundary conditions: What they are, how to explore them, why we need them, and when to consider them. Organizational Research Methods, 20(4), 574-609.
  2. Suddaby, R. 2010. Editor's Comments: Construct Clarity in Theories of Management and Organization. Academy of Management Review, 35(3): 1-13.
  3. Law, K. S., Chi-Sum, W., & Mobley, W. M. 1998. Toward A Taxonomy of Multidimensional Constructs. Academy of Management Review, 23(4): 741-755.
  4. Klein, K. J., & Kozlowski, S. W. J. 2000. From Micro to Meso: Critical Steps in Conceptualizing and Conducting Multilevel Research. Organizational Research Methods, 3(3): 211-236.

Week 6 – Theoretical Precision and Generalization

  1. Edwards, J. R., & Berry, J. W. (2010). The presence of something or the absence of nothing: Increasing theoretical precision in management research. Organizational Research Methods, 13(4), 668-689.
  2. Burton-Jones, A., & Volkoff, O. (2017). How can we develop contextualized theories of effective use? A demonstration in the context of community-care electronic health records. Information Systems Research, 28(3), 468-489.
  3. Hong, W., Chan, F. K., Thong, J. Y., Chasalow, L. C., & Dhillon, G. 2013. A Framework and Guidelines for Context-Specific Theorizing in Information Systems Research. Information Systems Research, 25(1): 111-136.
  4. Lewis, M. W., & Grimes, A. I. 1999. Metatriangulation: Building Theory from Multiple Paradigms. Academy of Management Review, 24(4): 672-690.

Week 7 – Future of Theory Building in IS

  1. Burton-Jones, A., Butler, B. S., Scott, S. V., & Sean Xin, X. (2021). Next-Generation Information Systems Theorizing: A Call to Action. MIS Quarterly, 45(1), 301-314.
  2. Berente, N., Seidel, S., & Safadi, H. (2019). Research commentary—data-driven computationally intensive theory development. Information systems research, 30(1), 50-64.
  3. Siponen, M. (2024). Stage theorizing in behavioral information systems security research. Proceedings of the 57th Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences (HICSS), p. 10.
  4. Jiang, D., Jiang, L. D., Jackie Jr, J., Grover, V., & Sun, H. (2022). Everything Old Can Be New Again: Reinvigorating Theory Borrowing for the Digital Age. MIS Quarterly, 46(4), 1833-1850.

Recommended readings (Books):

Note: These books are considered classic works for theorizing in management and IS research.

Dubin, R. (1978). Theory Building.

Kuhn, T. (1970). The nature of scientific revolutions. 

Popper, K. (1959). The logic of scientific discovery.

Simon, H. A. (1969). The sciences of the artificial.

Recommended readings (Articles):

Note: These journal articles are the backbone of theory building in the management and IS research and we refer to these during the course. The articles are available for you in the Moodle learning environment.

Ahuja, G., Lampert, C. M., & Tandon, V. 2008. Chapter 1: Moving Beyond Schumpeter: Management Research on the Determinants of Technological Innovation. Academy of Management Annals, 2(1): 1-98.

Alvesson, M., & Karreman, D. A. N. 2007. Constructing Mystery: Empirical Matters in Theory Development. Academy of Management Review, 32(4): 1265-1281.

Alvesson, M., & Sandberg, J. 2011. Generating Research Questions through Problematization. Academy of Management Review, 36(2): 247-271.

Avgerou, C. (2013). Social mechanisms for causal explanation in social theory based IS research. Journal of the Association for Information Systems, 14(8), 3.

Ancona, D. G., Goodman, P. S., Lawrence, B. S., & Tushman, M. L. 2001. Time: A New Research Lens. Academy of Management Review, 26(4): 645-563.

Bamberger, P. (2008). From the editors beyond contextualization: Using context theories to narrow the micro-macro gap in management research. Academy of Management Journal, 51(5), 839-846.

Bamberger, P. A., & Pratt, M. G. 2010. Moving Forward by Looking Back: Reclaiming Unconventional Research Contexts and Samples in Organizational Scholarship. Academy of Management Journal, 53(4): 665–671.

Benbasat, I., & Zmud, R. W. 1999. Empirical Research in Information Systems: The Practice of Relevance. MIS Quarterly, 23(1): 3-16.

Bergh, D. D. 2003. From the Editors Thinking Strategically about Contribution. Academy of Management Journal, 46(2): 135-136.

Bichler, M., Frank, U., Avison, D., Malaurent, J., Fettke, P., Hovorka, D., Krämer, J., Schnurr, D., Mueller, B., Suhl, L., & Thalheim, B. (2016). Theories in Business and Information Systems Engineering. Business & Information Systems Engineering, 58(4), 291-319.

Burton-Jones, A., & Gallivan, M. J. 2007. Toward A Deeper Understanding of System Usage in Organizations: A Multilevel Perspective. MIS Quarterly, 31(4): 657-679.

Chan, D. 1998. Functional Relations among Constructs in the Same Content Domain at Different Levels of Analysis: A Typology of Composition Models. Journal of Applied Psychology, 83(2): 234-246.

Corley, K. G., & Gioia, D. A. 2011. Building Theory about Theory Building: What Constitutes a Theoretical Contribution? Academy of Management Review, 36(1): 12-32.

Davison, R. M., & Martinsons, M. G. (2016). Context is king! Considering particularism in research design and reporting. Journal of Information Technology, 31, 241-249.

DiMaggio, P. J. 1995. Comments on "What Theory is Not", Administrative Science Quarterly, 40(3): 391-397.

Doty, D. H., Glick, W. H., & Glick, W. H. 1994. Typologies As a Unique Form Of Theory Building: Toward Improved Understanding and Modeling. Academy of Management Review, 19(2): 230-251.

Dyer WG and Wilkins AL, (1991), Better Stories, Not Better Constructs, to Generate Better Theory: A Rejoinder to Eisenhardt, The Academy of Management Review, 16 (3), 613-619

Eisenhardt KM (1989), Building Theories from Case Study Research, The Academy of Management Review, 14 (4), 532-550

Eisenhardt, K.M. 1989. Agency Theory: An Assessment and Review, Academy of Management Review, 14(1): 57-74

Feldman, D. C. 2004. What are We Talking About When We Talk About Theory? Journal of Management, 30(5): 565-567.

Fulmer, I.S. 2012. Editor's Comments: The Craft of Writing Theory Articles—Variety and Similarity in AMR. Academy of Management Review, 37(3): 327-331.

Gioia, D. A., & Pitre, E. (1990). Multiparadigm perspectives on theory building. Academy of Management Review, 15(4), 584-602.

Jones, D., & Gregor, S. (2007). The anatomy of a design theory. Journal of the Association for Information Systems, 8(5), 1.

Harley, B., Faems, D., & Corbett, A. (2014). A Few Bad Apples or the Tip of an Iceberg? Academic Misconduct in Publishing. Journal of Management Studies, 51(8), 1361-1363.

Hassan, N. R., Mathiassen, L., & Lowry, P. B. (2019). The process of information systems theorizing as a discursive practice. Journal of Information Technology, 34(3), 198-220.

Huber, J. 2008. The Value of Sticky Articles. Journal of Marketing Research, 45(3): 257-260.

Jarvis, C. B., Mackenzie, S. B., Podsakoff, P. M., Mick, D. G., & Bearden, W. O. 2003. A Critical Review of Construct Indicators and Measurement Model Misspecification in Marketing and Consumer Research. Journal of Consumer Research, 30(2): 199-218.

Johns, G. 2006. The Essential Impact of Context on Organizational Behavior. Academy of Management Review, 31(2): 386-408.

Johns, G. 2017. Reflections on the 2016 Decade Award: Incorporating Context in Organizational Research. Academy of Management Review, 42(4), 577-595.

Klein, K. J., Dansereau, F., & Hall, R. I. 1994. Levels Issues in Theory Development, Data Collection, And Analysis. Academy of Management Review, 19(2): 195-229.

Klein, K. J., Tosi, H., & Cannella Jr, A. A. 1999. Multilevel Theory Building: Benefits, Barriers, And New Developments. Academy of Management Review, 24(2): 248-248.

Lee, A. 1999. Strategizing for Compelling and Significant Research. MIS Quarterly, 23(2): 145- 145.

Lee, A. S. (2014). Theory is king? But first, what is theory? Journal of Information Technology, 29(4), 350-352.

Leidner, Dorothy E. and Tona, Olgerta (2021) "A Thought-Gear Model of Theorizing from Literature," Journal of the Association for Information Systems, 22(4).

LePine, & King, A. W. 2010. Editors' Comments: Developing Novel Theoretical Insight From Reviews Of Existing Theory And Research. Academy of Management Review, 35(4): 506–509.

Locke, E. A. 2007. The Case for Inductive Theory Building. Journal of Management, 33(6): 867-890.

Locke, K., & Golden-Biddle, K. (1997). Constructing Opportunities for Contribution: Structuring Intertextual Coherence and "Problematizing" in Organizational Studies. The Academy of Management Journal, 40(5), 1023-1062. https://doi.org/10.2307/256926

Maitlis, S., & Ozcelik, H. 2004. Toxic Decision Processes: A Study of Emotion and Organizational Decision Making. Organization Science, 15(4): 375-393.

Mao, M., Siponen, M., & Nathan, M. (2023). Popperian Falsificationism in IS: Major Confusions and Harmful Influences. Communications of the Association for Information Systems, 53.

Mathieu, J. E., & Chen, G., 2011. The Etiology of the Multilevel Paradigm in Management Research. Journal of Management, 37(2): 610-641.

Mitchell, T. R., & James, L. R. 2001. Building Better Theory: Time And The Specification Of When Things Happen. Academy of Management Review, 26(4): 530-547.

Montealegre, R. 2002. A Process Model of Capability Development: Lessons from the Electronic Commerce Strategy at Bolsa de Valores de Guayaquil. Organization Science, 13(5): 514-531.

Morgeson, F. P., & Hofmann, D. A. 1999. The Structure And Function Of Collective Constructs: Implications For Multilevel Research And Theory Development. Academy of Management Review, 24(2): 249-265.

Mueller, B. (2021). The Theorizing Trifecta. Journal of Information Technology, 36(3), 334-338.

Niederman, F., & March, S. T. (2019). Broadening the Conceptualization of Theory in the Information Systems Discipline: A Meta-Theory Approach. ACM SIGMIS Data Base for Advances in Information Systems, 50(2), 18-44. https://doi.org/10.1145/3330472.3330476

Okhuysen, G., & Bonardi, J.-P. 2011. The Challenges of Building Theory by Combining Lenses. Academy of Management Review, 36(1): 6-11.

Overby, E. 2008. Process Virtualization Theory and the Impact of Information Technology. Organization Science, 19(2): 277-291.

Polites, G. L., Roberts, N., & Thatcher, J. (2012). Conceptualizing models using multidimensional constructs: a review and guidelines for their use. European Journal of Information Systems, 21, 22-48.

Poole, M. S., & Van de Ven, A. H. 1989. Using Paradox to Build Management and Organization Theories. Academy of Management Review, 14(4): 562-578.

Rai, A. (2017). EDITOR’S COMMENTS: Seeing the Forest for the Trees. MIS Quarterly, 41(4), iii-viii.

Rai, A. (2019). EDITOR'S COMMENTS: The First Revision. MIS Quarterly, 43(3), iii-viii.

Rai, A., Editorial: Avoiding Type III Errors: Formulating IS Research Problems that Matter, MIS Quarterly, 42(2), 2017, iii-vii.

Rindova, V. (2008). Editor's Comments: Publishing Theory When You Are New to the Game. The Academy of Management Review, 33(2), 300-303.

Rivard, S. 2014. The Ions of Theory Construction. MIS Quarterly (38:2), pp. iii-xiii.

Rousseau, D. M. 2011. Reinforcing the Micro/Macro Bridge: Organizational Thinking and Pluralistic Vehicles. Journal of Management, 37(2): 429-442.

Rowe, F., & Markus, M. L. (2018) Taking on sacred cows: openness, fair critique, and retaining value when revising classics. European Journal of Information Systems, 27(6), 623-628.

Rynes, S. 2002. Some Reflections on Contribution. Academy of Management Journal, 45 (2): 311-313

Sætre, A. S., & Van de Ven, A. (2021). Generating theory by abduction. Academy of Management Review, 46(4), 684-701.

Sabherwal, R. & Robey, D. 1993. An Empirical Taxonomy of Implementation Processes Based on Sequences of Events in Information System Development. Organization Science, 4(4): 548-576.

Shapira, Z. (2011). “I've Got a Theory Paper—Do You?”: Conceptual, Empirical, and Theoretical Contributions to Knowledge in the Organizational Sciences. Organization Science, 22(5), 1312-1321.

Shepherd, D. A., & Suddaby, R. (2017). Theory Building: A Review and Integration. Journal of Management, 43(1), 59-86.

Shipp, A. J., Edwards, J. R., & Lambert, L. S. 2009. Conceptualization and Measurement of Temporal Focus: The Subjective Experience of the Past, Present, and Future. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 110(1): 1-22.

Simon, H. 1980. Random Thoughts about Methods of Research. Pittsburgh, Unpublished Manuscript, Carnegie Mellon University: 1-10.

Siponen, M., & Tsohou, A. (2018). Demystifying the Influential IS Legends of Positivism. Journal of the Association for Information Systems, 19(7).

Straub, D. W. (2009). Editor's Comments: Why Top Journals Accept Your Paper [Editorial]. MIS Quarterly, 33(3), iii-x.

Sutton, R. I., & Staw, B. M. (1995). What Theory is Not. Administrative Science Quarterly, 40(3), 371-384.

Swedberg, R. (2016). Can You Visualize Theory? On the Use of Visual Thinking in Theory Pictures, Theorizing Diagrams, and Visual Sketches. Sociological Theory, 34(3), 250-275. 

Thatcher, S.M. and Fisher, G., 2022. From the editors—The nuts and bolts of writing a theory paper: A practical guide to getting started. Academy of Management Review, 47(1), pp.1-8.

Truex D, Holmström J and Keil M (2006), Theorizing in information systems research: A reflexive analysis of the adaptation of theory in information systems research, Journal of the Association for Information Systems, 7 (12), Article 33.

Venkatraman, N. 1989. The Concept of Fit in Strategy Research: Toward Verbal and Statistical Correspondence. Academy of Management Review, 14(3): 423-444.

Walls, J. G., Widmeyer, G. R., & El Sawy, O. A. (1992). Building an information system design theory for vigilant EIS. Information Systems Research, 3(1), 36-59.

Walstrom, K. A., & Leonard, L. N. K. (2000). Citation classics from the information systems literature, Information & Management, 38, 59-72.

Whitley, E. A. & Galliers, R. D. (2007). An alternative perspective on citation classics: Evidence from the first 10 years of the European Conference on Information Systems, Information & Management, 44, 441-455.

Wanda J. Orlikowski, C. Suzanne Iacono, (2001) Research Commentary: Desperately Seeking the “IT” in IT Research—A Call to Theorizing the IT Artifact. Information Systems Research 12(2):121-134. 

Weber, R. (2003). Editor's Comments: Theoretically speaking. MIS Quarterly, 27(3), iii-xii.

Weber, R. 2003. The Problem of the Problem. MIS Quarterly, 27(1): 1-1.

Weick, K. E. (1995). What Theory is Not, Theorizing is. Administrative Science Quarterly, 40(3), 385-390.

Weinstein, N. D., Rothman, A. J., & Sutton, S. R. (1998). Stage theories of health behavior: conceptual and methodological issues. Health psychology, 17(3), 290.

Whetten, D. A. (1989). What Constitutes a Theoretical Contribution? Academy of Management Review, 14(4), 490-495.

Wong, C.S., Law, K. S., & Huang, G.H. 2008. On the Importance of Conducting Construct-Level Analysis for Multidimensional Constructs in Theory Development and Testing. Journal of Management, 34(4): 744-764.

Ågerfalk, P. J. (2014). Insufficient theoretical contribution: a conclusive rationale for rejection? European Journal of Information Systems, 23(6), 593-599.