1 / 12

A Look at the Future of Theory

A Look at the Future of Theory. Aric Rindfleisch Univ. of Wisconsin & Korea Univ. 2010 Summer AMA Conference. The Problem Conceptual articles are important and influential but difficult to get published in top journals due to an empirical bias.

sani
Download Presentation

A Look at the Future of Theory

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. A Look at the Future of Theory • Aric Rindfleisch • Univ. of Wisconsin & Korea Univ. • 2010 Summer AMA Conference

  2. The Problem Conceptual articles are important and influential but difficult to get published in top journals due to an empirical bias.

  3. The Solution:“If a discipline is committed to theory-building...it must demonstrate that commitment in its major journals...It is noteworthy that several other business disciplines have done just that...” • Yadav (2010, p. 14)

  4. “The Field of Management’s Devotion to Theory: Too Much of a Good Thing?” • Hambrick (2007) “WE’VE GONE OVERBOARD IN OUR OBSESSION WITH THEORY” (P. 1346)

  5. “A look at top journals in other fields readily uncovers papers that do not purport to contribute to theory. For instance, a 2006 Journal of Marketing article (Thompson, Rindfleisch & Arsel 2006) neither propped themselves up with any theories or claimed to have generated any theories. They simply documented and dissected a fascinating, important phenomenon, in a way that would be a remote prospect in our top journals.” • Hambrick (2007, p. 1347)

  6. “We need at least one journal...that is largely devoted to straightforward tests of theories...Many other fields have such journals. For example, Marketing Letters...” • Hambrick (2007, p. 1351)

  7. Common Enemy Shared Assumption We need this process • Journal review process

  8. The RealityThe biggest theoretical contributions are often found in books or B-level journals

  9. An Alternative“We leave judgments about the worth of research and ideas open to more people in a more democratic assessment process.” • Pfeffer (2007, pp. 1342) “WEIGHTING CITATIONS MORE STRONGLY THAN NUMBER OF PAPERS AND WHERE THEY HAVE BEEN PUBLISHED” (P. 1342)

  10. What if...We published everything and let the scholarly community decide the value of a contribution?

  11. This is already happening...

  12. What will happen next...?

More Related