Paper Type
Completed Research Paper
Abstract
In the past, IS research has been criticized for its inability to build a cumulative tradition of IS-specific theory. We suggest that the difficulty in structuring theoretical contributions in IS is one facet of that problem. This has led to a situation in which a lot of theory generation in IS is not made apparent as such. Based on a conceptual review on theory, we design a framework to structure theoretical contributions in IS. Applying our framework, we show that IS research does offer a broad basis of early, substantive theories and even some more comprehensive theoretical accounts specific to our discipline that IS scholars could build on in a cumulative tradition. We use the context of theory generation in and for IS based on the Grounded Theory approach. In doing so, we hope to enable a more structured discourse on the current state of theory generation in IS.
Recommended Citation
Olbrich, Sebastian and Mueller, Benjamin, "Towards a Framework for Structuring Theory in IS Research" (2013). AMCIS 2013 Proceedings. 7.
https://aisel.aisnet.org/amcis2013/ISPhilosophy/GeneralPresentations/7
Towards a Framework for Structuring Theory in IS Research
In the past, IS research has been criticized for its inability to build a cumulative tradition of IS-specific theory. We suggest that the difficulty in structuring theoretical contributions in IS is one facet of that problem. This has led to a situation in which a lot of theory generation in IS is not made apparent as such. Based on a conceptual review on theory, we design a framework to structure theoretical contributions in IS. Applying our framework, we show that IS research does offer a broad basis of early, substantive theories and even some more comprehensive theoretical accounts specific to our discipline that IS scholars could build on in a cumulative tradition. We use the context of theory generation in and for IS based on the Grounded Theory approach. In doing so, we hope to enable a more structured discourse on the current state of theory generation in IS.