Building Theories in Information Systems
Location
room T003, Aalto University School of Business, Otaniemi (address: Ekonominaukio 1)
Registration
Speaker
Professor Sirkka L. Jarvenpaa, Bayless/Refsnes Chair in Business Administration, Professor of Information Systems, University of Texas at Austin
Overview
The explosion in academic scholarship has rendered theories ever more relevant and critical in scholarly communications just as theory building is undergoing rapid changes. The process has become more versatile leveraging meta theories, combining and dissecting mid-ranged theories, synthesizing existing empirical literature as well as deploying data driven theory approaches. This versatility in theoretical approaches is much needed to understand the complex digital technology phenomena in areas such as artificial intelligence, IoT, blockchain technologies, metaverse, edge computing, and others. These digital technology 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, new human learning models, institutional policy and logics, and so on. Digital transformations and disruptions introduce a variety of new behavioral, social, legal and economic problems, opportunities, and phenomena that provide theorizing opportunities.
This seminar invites Ph.D. students, postdocs, junior as well as seasoned scholars to rehearse and practice theorizing around a significant digital phenomenon, process, problem, or opportunity of their interest. We will discuss (1) exemplar articles that advance theory on digital phenomena, (2) discuss various theory building approaches, and (3) practice theory building through a series of exercises on the participant’s chosen question/problem/opportunity.
Preparation (Before the Seminar)
Read the articles and complete two assignments
Activities |
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Identify a journal or conference paper that you consider advancing new novel theory in the Information Systems field |
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2.
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Complete Assignment 1 for your chosen theory paper. Send to Instructor |
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3.
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Complete Assignment 2. Bring 5 copies of your two-page response |
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4.
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Complete the readings
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Assignment 1:
Complete a matrix for the chosen theory article. This theory article would be published research. I recommend finding an article that you consider an exemplar theory article in your research area. Make sure that you can argue that the article makes a theoretical contribution.
A theory contribution aims to develop new arguments and extend existing arguments about relationships between units or approximated in the empirical world based on concepts and logical connections to address the questions of how, when, and why (Bacharach, 1989).
The matrix consists of the following columns: 0) Complete reference, 1) practical problem, 2) theoretical motivation, 3) research question, 4) theory logic including causal mechanisms, or process model, 5) identity and justify novel parts, 6) theoretical contribution, 7) key theory learning/lessons, 8) weaknesses, 9) remedies for weaknesses.
If some columns do not apply to your chosen article, please reflect briefly why they are not relevant for your chosen article.
Send (1) a copy of your chosen article and (2) your matrix to the instructor by June 16 5 p.m.EEST (sirkka.jarvenpaa@mccombs.utexas.edu). Be ready to present your assignment on June 19.
Assignment 2:
Assignment #2 is for each seminar participant’s own research-in-progress or planned research that they want to work on during the seminar.
Describe the problem or opportunity that motivated the research question (a paragraph). Think of "P" practical problem.
Give a concrete instance of this problem. You can refer to some real case example or draft a fictionous but a compelling instance. Provide "a story" with details such as context (e.g., where and when), actors, initial conditions, process, outcomes, consequences etc. Vividness of the example helps you uncover assumptions you are making. (Check whether you want to focus the question on the assumptions itself)
State a research question (need to be stated clearly and unambiguously in question form). Preferably the question starts with "how" or "why" (avoid questions that start "Whether" or "Do" or "Does").
Max of 2 pages. Bring (five) hard copies of your answers to the seminar on Monday morning June 19.
Detailed Program
Day 1: Getting Started
Session 1: 9:00 – 12:00 Choosing your Path to Making a Theoretical contribution
This session discusses the different paths to make a theoretical contribution and advance the key components of your theoretical contribution
Session |
Activities |
Readings |
9:00– 10:15 |
Discovering/determining your path to making a theoretical contribution |
Gregor (2006) Rivard (2014) Sutton and Staw (1995) Alvesson and Sandberg (2011) Makadok, Burton and Barney (2018) Shepherd and Suddaby (2017) Skim: Fisher and Aguinis (2017) |
10:15 – 10:30 |
Coffee break |
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10:30-12:00 |
Advance the key components of your theoretical contribution |
Session 2: 1:00 – 17:00 Developing Rough Theoretical Model and Clarify its Nature and Form
This session focuses on refining the theoretical model and developing the style that you will use to make the key arguments.
Session |
Activities |
Readings |
13:00-14:15 |
Refinement of the theoretical model |
Cornelissen (2017) BurtonJones et al (2014) Markus and Rowe (2019) Fischer et al (2021) SKIM: Negoita et al (2018) SKIM: Jarvenpaa and Majchrzak (2016) Skim: Furnari et al (2021)
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14:15– 14: |
Coffee break |
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15:00-16:15 |
Clarify nature and form |
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16:15-17:00 |
Share your work with colleagues and get feedback |
Day 2: Advancing your Nascent Theory and Grounding It
Session 3: 9:00 – 12:00 Developing the Foundation for your Theoretical Model
This session focuses on how to identify the key literatures that are foundational to your theorizing. The session also provides guidance on positioning your theoretical contribution.
Session |
Activities |
Readings |
9:00-10:15 |
Theoretical Background and Foundation |
Barney (2018) Gregory & Henfridsson (2021) |
10:15-10:30 |
Coffee break |
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10:30-12:00 |
Writing the Introduction |
Session 4: 1:00-3:00
This session focuses on how to communicate its relevance and value to the broader information systems field.
Session |
Activities |
Readings |
13:00-14:30 |
Discussion and Implications |
Nadkarni et al (2018); Discussing the Implications http://aom.org/uploadedFiles/Publications/AMJ/FTE-Implications.pdf; Mohajeri and Leidner (2017)
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14:30-15:00 |
WrapUp |
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Readings
- Alvesson, M. and Sandberg, J. (2011). Generating research questions through problematization. Academy of Management Review, 36, 2, 247-271.
- Barney, J. 2018. Positioning a Theory paper for publication. Academy of Management
- Burton-Jones, A., McLean, E.R., and Monod, E. Theoretical Perspectives in IS Research: from Variance and Process to Conceptual Latitude and Conceptual Fit, European Journal of Information Systems, 2014.
- Cornelissen, J. (2017). Editor's comments: Developing propositions, a process model, or a typology? Addressing the challenges of writing theory without a boilerplate. Academy of Management Review, 42(1), 1-9.
- Fisher, G. and Aguinis, H. Using Theory Elaboration to Make Theoretical Advancements. Organizational Research Methods. 2017.
- Fisher, G., Mayer, K., & Morris, S. (2021). From the Editors—Phenomenon-Based Theorizing. Academy of Management Review, 46(4), 631-639.
- Furnari, S. et al. Capturing Causal Complexity: Heuristics for Configurational Theorizing. Academy of Management Review, 46 (4). 2021.
- Gregor, S. 2006. The Nature of Theory in Information Systems, MIS Quarterly, 30(3), 611-642.
- Gregory, R. W., & Henfridsson, O. (2021). Bridging Art and Science: Phenomenon-Driven Theorizing. Journal of the Association for Information Systems, 22(6), 1509-1523.
- Jarvenpaa, S. L., & Majchrzak, A. (2016). Interactive self-regulatory theory for sharing and protecting in interorganizational collaborations. Academy of Management Review, 41(1), 9-27.
- Makadok, R., Burton, R., & Barney, J. (2018). A practical guide for making theory contributions in strategic management. Strategic Management Journal, 39(6), 1530-1545.
- Markus, M.L. and Rowe, F. Is IT Changing the World? Conceptions of Causality for Information Systems Theorizing, MIS Quarterly, 2019.
- Mohajeri K, Leidner D (2017) Towards a typology of relevance. Bui T,ed. Proc. 50th Hawaii Internat. Conf. System Sci. (AIS Electronic Library, Atlanta), 5783–5792.
- Nadkarni et al. 2018. New Ways of Seeing: Radical Theorizing, Academy of Management Journal
- Negoita, B., Lapointe, L., Rivard, S. 2018. Collective Information Systems Use: A Typological Theory. MIS Quarterly, 42, 4, 1281-1301.
- Rivard, S. (2014). Editor’s comments: The ions of theory construction, MIS Quarterly, 38, 2, ii-xii.
- Shephard, D.A. and Suddaby, R. 2017. Theory Building: A Review and Integration, Journal of Management.
- Sutton, R.I. and Staw, B.M., “What Theory is Not,” Administrative Science Quarterly, 1995, 40(3), 371-384.
Credit points
Doctoral students participating in the seminar can obtain 3 credit points. This requires participating and completing the assignment. Instructions for the assignment will be given at the seminar.
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.