Building Theory about Theory Building: What Constitutes a Theoretical Contribution?
Top Cited Papers
- 1 January 2011
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Academy of Management in Academy of Management Review
- Vol. 36 (1), 12-32
- https://doi.org/10.5465/amr.2009.0486
Abstract
We distill existing literature on theoretical contribution into two dimensions, originality (incremental or revelatory) and utility (scientific or practical). We argue for a revision in the way scholars approach the utility dimension by calling for a view of theorizing that would enable theories with more “scope” (both scientific and practical utility). We also argue for an orientation toward “prescience” as a way of achieving scope and fulfilling our scholarly role of facilitating organizational and societal adaptiveness.This publication has 93 references indexed in Scilit:
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