Generating Theory by Abduction

Abstract

The need for understanding how new ideas and hunches are created that may subsequently lead to new theories or models has never been greater for academics and practitioners. Abduction provides a mode of reasoning for achieving this. It is a form of generative reasoning that begins with observing and confirming an anomaly, generating and evaluating hunches that may explain the anomaly, for subsequent deductive constructing and inductive testing. Although abductive reasoning is being recognized in the management literature, it requires more systematic development to be useful for theory creation. We argue that abduction can inform management scholars in creating theories in three important ways: First, we propose four key steps in abductive reasoning of observing and confirming anomalies and generating and evaluating hunches. Second, we go beyond individual reasoning to examine collective social-psychological processes of generating new theories. Third, we propose specific ways for disciplined imagination in abductive reasoning.