Week2 - What is Theory ? Theorizing ?



Many of us feel too intimidated to call our contributions “theory.” This is often the case because we tend to believe that, unless something is scientifically proven, it cannot be called theory. The hesitation that we have over using the word theory often leads to problems that become evident when we try to further develop a theoretical contribution. A clear example presented by Storberg-Walker (2008) is Wenger (1998), who first introduced the concept communities of practice. Storberg-Walker indicates that Wenger initially used the term perspective, which he later replaced with theory. His initial term led to confusion, given that what he had proposed was, in fact, a mid-range theory. (Garcia - Murillo, et al).

Class Readings
1. Garcia-Murillo, Martha –Basics about Theory. ( https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/105934454/Courses/ist_530/Week2/The_basics_about_theory.pdf)

2.    Sutton, Robert and Staw, Barry, (1995) “What Theory is Not.” Administrative Science Quarterly, Vol. 40, No. 3, pages 371-384. http://haas.berkeley.edu/faculty/papers/stawtheory.pdf

3. DiMaggio, P. J. (1995). Comments on “What Theory is Not”. Administrative Science Quarterly, 40(3), 391-397. http://www.jstor.org.ezaccess.libraries.psu.edu/stable/2393790?seq=1&uid=3739256&sid=21102534280557&

4. Weick, Karl, (1995) “What Theory is Not, Theorizing Is” Administrative Science Quarterly, 40(3), 385-390. http://www.uta.edu/faculty/richarme/BSAD%206310/Readings/varadarajan%20musing%20on%20relevance%20and%20rigor.pdf

Class discussions
1. Presentation by Team A on "What is Theory?" - Here

Homework
Drawing from any/all 5 papers discussed so far (last week and this)--Define theory (the product) according to our authors. Define theorizing (the process) according to our authors. You may also draw in materials form other classes.

My writeup - here.

Other presentations in Class
1. What Theory is not

2. Comments on What Theory is not