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Cited by 1,865

The DOI matches its Crossref record; 1 of the 1 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.

What Theory is Not

Sutton, Robert I., Staw, Barry M.·1995·Administrative Science Quarterly
DOI 10.2307/2393788
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Abstract

We are grateful to Steve Barley, Max Bazerman, Daniel Brass, Gary Alan Fine, Linda Pike, Robert Kahn, James March, Marshall Meyer, Keith Murnighan, Christine Oliver, and David Owens for their contributions to this essay. This essay was prepared while the first author was a Fellow at the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences. We appreciate the financial assistance provided by the Hewlett-Packard Corporation and the National Science Foundation (SBR-9022192). This essay describes differences between papers that contain some theory rather than no theory. The~re is little agreement about what constitutes strong versus weak theory in the social sciences, but there is more consensus that references, data, variables, diagrams, and hypotheses are not theory. Despite this consensus, however, authors routinely use these five elements in lieu of theory. We explain how each of these five elements can be confused with theory and how to avoid such confusion. By making this consensus explicit, we hope to help authors avoid some of the most common and easily averted problems that lead readers to view papers as having inadequate theory. We then discuss how journals might facilitate the publication of stronger theory. We suggest that if the field is serious about producing stronger theory, journals need to reconsider their empirical requirements. We argue that journals ought to be more receptive to papers that test part rather than all of a theory and use illustrative rather than definitive data.

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Metadata

Authors
Sutton, R. I., & Staw, B. M.
Venue
Administrative Science Quarterly
Publisher
JSTOR
Published
1995-09
Volume
40
Issue
3
Pages
371
ISSN
0001-8392 (ISSN-L)
DOI
10.2307/2393788
OpenAlex
W2090054320
Cited by
1,865
References
1
FWCI
7.46
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
closed

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