PhD Course - Theory and Theorizing in Information Systems Research

Organizer: Oliver Krancher

Lecturer: Benjamin Mueller, associate professor at University of Lausanne

Dates of the course: between August 17 and September 7, 2020

Time: see program (below)

Room preferences: online (Zoom)

Course description:

The generation of knowledge can be seen as one of the key contributions of any science. Consequently, many scholars emphasize the centrality of theories for any scientific endeavor – a thought reflected from the natural to the social sciences. While a corresponding attention to theoretical work has been at the heart of the Information Systems (IS) discipline for a long time, the focus on theoretical debates and genuine conceptual contributions has been picking up recently. This is reflected by a number of journal sections and conference tracks dedicated to advancing theory and theorizing in IS research just as much as in many authors’ experiences during review processes.

The course Theory and Theorizing in Information Systems Research (TnT.IS) invites participants to join the ongoing discourse on theories and theorizing in the IS research community. It helps participants to build a foundational understanding of what theory and theorizing are. Through discussions and analyses of foundational theoretical developments in the IS discipline and some of its main reference disciplines, participants engage with the concept of theory and advance their skills of building their own theoretical contributions.

The course is designed to achieve the following high-level learning objectives:

Build a foundational understanding of what theory is and what role it plays in research
Become familiar with basic theorizing skills and approaches

In terms of teaching formats, TnT.IS uses a mixture of formats and approaches – from traditional lectures to interactive elements and seminar-style discussions. To make this work, participants are encouraged to prepare the mandatory readings identified in this syllabus prior to the start of the respective session. Through this preparation, most the workload for the course will occur in the weeks before the actual course dates.

Be advised that TnT.IS is not intended to be a comprehensive or normative prescription of how to engage with theory and theorizing in research. It is rather aimed at providing a basic introduction to theory and theorizing to participants. This, in turn, provides enablement to employ basic theory and theorizing skills and encouragement to carefully pay attention to participants’ own theoretical contribution and their engagement with the extant knowledge in the field.

Reading list:

Required readings:[1]

General

(Bichler et al. 2016)
(Mueller and Urbach 2017)
(Steinfield and Fulk 1990)

Module 1

Module 1.1 – Introduction to Theory

(Bacharach 1989)
(Lee 2014)
(Suddaby 2010)
(Sutton and Staw 1995)
(Weber 2003)

Module 1.2 – Refined theoretical perspectives

Types of theory (Gregor 2006)
Other theoretical artifacts (Shapira 2011)
Conceptual perspectives (Burton-Jones et al. 2015)
Philosophical perspectives (Gioia and Pitre 1990)
Level issues (Klein et al. 1994)

Module 2

Module 2.1 – Introduction to Theorizing

Nature of theorizing
- (Colquitt and Zapata-Phelan 2007)
- (Ochara 2013)
- (Weber 2012)
- (Weick 1995)
Aspects of theorizing
- (Durand and Vaara 2009)[2]
- (Hassan 2014)
- (Osigweh 1989)

Module 2.2 – Theorizing Strategies[3]

Blending (Oswick et al. 2011)
Borrowing (Whetten et al. 2009)
Context (Hong et al. 2014)
Contrasting (Tsang and Ellsaesser 2011)
Counterfactuals (Durand and Vaara 2009)[4]
Mechanisms (Mingers and Standing 2017)
Multi-level theorizing (Zhang and Gable 2017)
Multi-paradigm (Lewis and Grimes 1999)
Process Data (Langley 1999)
Testing (Gregor and Klein 2014)
Typologies (Delbridge and Fiss 2013)

Optional readings: [5]

Optional

Outspoken critics of “theory” (Avison and Malaurent 2014; Hirschheim 2019)
Casting off shackles (Drechsler et al. 2018; Jones 2019; Rai 2018)
Recognizing historical baggage (Holmström and Truex 2011; Siponen and Klaavuniemi 2019)
Scripting ourselves into a corner (Grover 2013; Grover and Lyytinen 2015)
The elusive art of good writing (Huff 1999; Pollock and Bono 2013; Rindova 2011; Weston 2009)

[1] The readings of TnT.IS are distributed across two categories: The blue paper (15) are mandatory readings for everyone and have to be prepared before class as per the instructions that will be shared in the kick-off mail. While the lecturer will lead the discussion on the blue papers in class, participants are expected to actively engage in the discussion and reflect of the papers’ contributions. Preparation work for the red papers (16) will be distributed across the class. Every participant will have to prepare only a subset of these (final number of papers allocated depends on group size). For the red papers, participants are expected to lead the discussion and prepare all necessary materials to support knowledge transfer. Here, too, details will be shared in the kick-off mail for the class.

[2] Pages 1245-1249 only.

[3] Students will be asked to prepare an artifact (e.g., handout, poster, …) to support the introduction of this theorizing strategy to other participants. The assignment of strategies will be made prior to class. Based on the final number of registrants, the list might be extended or shortened to match group size.

[4] Pages 1249-1261 only.

[5] Selectively leveraged throughout the course but introduced by the lecturer, no preparation required.

Bibliography

Avison, D., and Malaurent, J. 2014. "Is Theory King? Questioning the Theory Fetish in Information Systems," Journal of Information Technology (29:4), pp. 327-336.

Bacharach, S.B. 1989. "Organizational Theories: Some Criteria for Evaluation," Academy of Management Review (14:4), pp. 496-515.

Bichler, M., Frank, U., Avison, D., Malaurent, J., Fettke, P., Hovorka, D., Krämer, J., Schnurr, D., Mueller, B., Suhl, L., and Thalheim, B. 2016. "Theories in Business and Information Systems Engineering," Business & Information Systems Engineering (58:4), pp. 291-319.

Burton-Jones, A., McLean, E.R., and Monod, E. 2015. "Theoretical Perspectives in IS Research: From Variance and Process to Conceptual Latitude and Conceptual Fit," European Journal of Information Systems (24:6), pp. 664-679.

Colquitt, J.A., and Zapata-Phelan, C.P. 2007. "Trends in Theory Building and Theory Testing: A Five-Decade Study of the Academy of Management Journal," Academy of Management Journal (50:6), pp. 1281-1303.

Delbridge, R., and Fiss, P.C. 2013. "Editors' Comments: Styles of Theorizing and the Social Organization of Knowledge," Academy of Management Review (38:3), pp. 325-331.

Drechsler, A., Mueller, B., and Urbach, N. 2018. "Making the ‘Right’ Turn: Gaining Paradigmatic Latitude and Improving Paradigmatic Fit for Theorizing on Matters of Technology," Workshop on Technology Matters and Matters of Technology - Exploring Theories of 'Materiality' for Technology Research, M. Niemimaa, U. Schultze, G. Van den Heuvel, H. Karsten, M. Bodker and O. Hanseth (eds.), Portsmouth, UK, pp. 1-5.

Durand, R., and Vaara, E. 2009. "Causation, Counterfactuals, and Competitive Advantage," Strategic Management Journal (30:12), pp. 1245-1264.

Gioia, D.A., and Pitre, E. 1990. "Multiparadigm Perspectives on Theory Building," Academy of Management Review (15:4), pp. 584-602.

Gregor, S. 2006. "The Nature of Theory in Information Systems," MIS Quarterly (30:3), pp. 611-642.

Gregor, S., and Klein, G. 2014. "Eight Obstacles to Overcome in the Theory Testing Genre," Journal of the Association for Information Systems (15:11), pp. i-xix.

Grover, V. 2013. "Muddling Along to Moving Beyond in IS Research: Getting from Good to Great," Journal of the Association for Information Systems (14:5), pp. 274-282.

Grover, V., and Lyytinen, K. 2015. "New State of Play in Information Systems Research: The Push to the Edges," MIS Quarterly (39:2), pp. 271-296.

Hassan, N.R. 2014. "Useful Products in Theorizing for Information Systems," 35. International Conference on Information Systems (ICIS 2014), Auckland, New Zealand: AIS.

Hirschheim, R. 2019. "Against Theory: With Apologies to Feyerabend," Journal of the Association for Information Systems (20:9), pp. 1340-1357.

Holmström, J., and Truex, D. 2011. "Dropping Your Tools: Exploring When and How Theories Can Serve as Blinders in IS Research," Communications of the Association for Information Systems (28:19), pp. 283-294.

Hong, W., Chan, F.K.Y., Thong, J.Y.L., Chasalow, L.C., and Dhillon, G. 2014. "A Framework and Guidelines for Context-Specific Theorizing in Information Systems Research," Information Systems Research (25:1), pp. 111-136.

Huff, A.S. 1999. Writing for Scholarly Publication, (1. ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA, USA: Sage.

Jones, M. 2019. "Beyond Convergence: Rethinking Pluralism in IS Research," 40. International Conference on Information Systems (ICIS 2019), Munich, Germany.

Klein, K.J., Dansereau, F., and Hall, R.I. 1994. "Levels Issues in Theory Development, Data Collection, and Analysis," Academy of Management Review (19:2), pp. 195-229.

Langley, A. 1999. "Strategies for Theorizing from Process Data," Academy of Management Review (24:4), pp. 691-710.

Lee, A.S. 2014. "Theory Is King? But First, What Is Theory?," Journal of Information Technology (29:4), pp. 350-352.

Lewis, M.W., and Grimes, A.I. 1999. "Metatriangulation: Building Theory from Multiple Paradigms," Academy of Management Review (24:4), pp. 672-690.

Mingers, J., and Standing, C. 2017. "Why Things Happen – Developing the Critical Realist View of Causal Mechanisms," Information and Organization (27:3), pp. 171-189.

Mueller, B., and Urbach, N. 2017. "Understanding the Why, What, and How of Theories in IS Research," Communications of the Association for Information Systems (41:17), pp. 349-388.

Ochara, N.M. 2013. "Linking Reasoning to Theoretical Argument in Information Systems Research," 19. Americas Conference on Information Systems (AMCIS 2013), Chicago, IL, USA.

Osigweh, C.A.B.Y. 1989. "Concept Fallibility in Organizational Science," The Academy of Management Review (14:4), pp. 579-594.

Oswick, C., Fleming, P., and Hanlon, G. 2011. "From Borrowing to Blending: Rethinking the Processes of Organizational Theory Building," Academy of Management Review (36:2), pp. 318-337.

Pollock, T.G., and Bono, J.E. 2013. "Being Scheherazade: The Importance of Storytelling in Academic Writing," Academy of Management Journal (56:3), pp. 629-634.

Rai, A. 2018. "Beyond Outdated Labels: The Blending of IS Research Traditions," MIS Quarterly (42:1), pp. iii-vi.

Rindova, V. 2011. "Moving from Ideas to a Theoretical Contribution: Comments on the Process of Developing Theory in Organizational Research," Journal of Supply Chain Management (47:2), pp. 19-21.

Shapira, Z. 2011. "“I've Got a Theory Paper—Do You?”: Conceptual, Empirical, and Theoretical Contributions to Knowledge in the Organizational Sciences," Organization Science (22:5), pp. 1312-1321.

Siponen, M., and Klaavuniemi, T. 2019. "How and Why ‘Theory’ Is Often Misunderstood in Information Systems Literature," 40. International Conference on Information Systems (ICIS 2019), Munich, Germany.

Steinfield, C.W., and Fulk, J. 1990. "The Theory Imperative," in: Organizations and Communications Technology, C.W. Steinfield and J. Fulk (eds.). Newbury Park, CA, USA: Sage, pp. 13-25.

Suddaby, R. 2010. "Editor's Comments: Construct Clarity in Theories of Management and Organization," Academy of Management Review (35:3), pp. 346-357.

Sutton, R.I., and Staw, B.M. 1995. "What Theory Is Not," Administrative Science Quarterly (40:3), pp. 371-384.

Tsang, E.W.K., and Ellsaesser, F. 2011. "How Contrastive Explanation Facilitates Theory Building," Academy of Management Review (36:2), pp. 404-419.

Weber, R. 2003. "Editor's Comments: Theoretically Speaking," MIS Quarterly (27:3), pp. iii-xii.

Weber, R. 2012. "Evaluating and Developing Theories in the Information Systems Discipline," Journal of the Association for Information Systems (13:1), pp. 1-30.

Weick, K.E. 1995. "What Theory Is Not, Theorizing Is," Administrative Science Quarterly (40:3), pp. 385-390.

Weston, A. 2009. A Rulebook for Arguments. Indianapolis, IN, USA: Hackett Publishing.

Whetten, D.A., Felin, T., and King, B.G. 2009. "The Practice of Theory Borrowing in Organizational Studies: Current Issues and Future Directions," Journal of Management (35:3), pp. 537-563.

Zhang, M., and Gable, G.G. 2017. "A Systematic Framework for Multilevel Theorizing in Information Systems Research," Information Systems Research (28:2), p. 203.

Program:

August 17, 10:30-12:00 and 13:30-15:00
August 24, 10:30-12:00 and 13:30-15:00
August 31, 10:30-12:00 and 13:30-15:00
September 7, 10:30-12:00 and 13:30-15:00

Prerequisites: None

Exam: The course will be graded as passed/failed based on the following elements:

Individual participation / contribution of student during in-class discussions
Paper presentation and discussion of pre-assigned readings (either in small teams or individually based on number of registrants) [to be prepared prior to the respective session]
Individual learning diary (students are being provided with a semi-structured template to fill in as the course progresses; additional write-up and overall reflection after last session of the class required) [to be submitted by September 21]

Credits: 6 ECTS

Amount of hours the student is expected to use on the course:

Participation in course sessions: 12 hours
Self-study / reading prior to classes: 110 hours
Preparation of paper presentations: 18 hours
Completion and revisions of learning diary: 40 hours

TOTAL: 180 hours

How to sign up: Write a mail to olik@itu.dk (Oliver Krancher)