The DOI matches its Crossref record; 11 of the 11 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
Building Theory about Theory Building: What Constitutes a Theoretical Contribution?
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.
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Citations
Cites
Clarifying the Entrepreneurial Orientation Construct and Linking It to Performance
Lumpkin, G. T., & Dess, G. G. (1996) · The Academy of Management Review · doi:10.5465/amr.1996.9602161568 · Cited by 10,159
Social Capital: Prospects for a New Concept
Adler, P. S., & Kwon, S.-W. (2002) · The Academy of Management Review · doi:10.2307/4134367 · Cited by 9,665 · cited 1×
“…goal theory, and prospect theory) have been formulated for scholars but nonetheless have major pragmatic implications that expand their scope (see Adler & Kwon, 2002; Benner & Tushman, 2003; Nahapiet & Ghoshal, 1998; Oliver , 1991; Reed & DeFillippi, 1990; and Ring & Van de Ven, 1994, for AMR…”
BackgroundStrategic Responses to Institutional Processes
Oliver, C. (1991) · The Academy of Management Review · doi:10.5465/amr.1991.4279002 · Cited by 8,950
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Multiparadigm perspectives on theory building
Gioia, D. A., & Pitre, E. (1990) · The Academy of Management Review · doi:10.5465/amr.1990.4310758 · Cited by 1,426
Self-citationThat's Interesting!: Towards a Phenomenology of Sociology and a Sociology of Phenomenology
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Comments on “What theory is not”
DiMaggio, P. J. (1995) · Administrative Science Quarterly · doi:10.2307/2393790 · Cited by 488 · cited 2×
“DiMaggio (1995) notes the extent to which the " cultural resonance " of theories affects their receptivity (i.e., the degree to which a given theory aligns with the cultural beliefs of the time and of the scholarly audience for the theory).”
Background
Cited by
Seeking Qualitative Rigor in Inductive Research: Notes on the Gioia Methodology
Gioia, D. A., Corley, K. G., & Hamilton, A. L. (2013) · Organizational Research Methods · doi:10.1177/1094428112452151 · Cited by 13,227
Self-citationDesigning conceptual articles: four approaches
Jaakkola, E. (2020) · AMS Review · doi:10.1007/s13162-020-00161-0 · Cited by 2,258
“Authors crafting conceptual papers can find valuable advice on problematizing (Alvesson and Sandberg 2011), theorizing and theory building (Corley and Gioia 2011; Cornelissen 2017; Shepherd and Suddaby 2017), and the types of conceptual contribution that warrant publication (Corley and Gioia 2011; MacInnis 2011).”
BackgroundWang, G., Gunasekaran, A., Ngai, E. W. T., & Papadopoulos, T. (2016) · International Journal of Production Economics · doi:10.1016/j.ijpe.2016.03.014 · Cited by 1,545
Authentic leadership: A review of the literature and research agenda
Gardner, W. L., Cogliser, C. C., Davis, K. M., & Dickens, M. P. (2011) · The Leadership Quarterly · doi:10.1016/j.leaqua.2011.09.007 · Cited by 1,340
Wang, G., Oh, I.-S., Courtright, S. H., & Colbert, A. E. (2011) · Group & Organization Management · doi:10.1177/1059601111401017 · Cited by 1,315
Algorithmic bias: review, synthesis, and future research directions
Kordzadeh, N., & Ghasemaghaei, M. (2022) · European Journal of Information Systems · doi:10.1080/0960085x.2021.1927212 · Cited by 770
Tamilmani, K., Rana, N. P., Wamba, S. F., & Dwivedi, R. (2021) · International Journal of Information Management · doi:10.1016/j.ijinfomgt.2020.102269 · Cited by 660
Maneuvering in Poor Visibility: How Firms Play the Ecosystem Game when Uncertainty is High
Dattée, B., Alexy, O., & Autio, E. (2018) · Academy of Management Journal · doi:10.5465/amj.2015.0869 · Cited by 567
Wijen, F. (2014) · Academy of Management Review · doi:10.5465/amr.2012.0218 · Cited by 459
Evaluating and Developing Theories in the Information Systems Discipline
Monash University, & Weber, R. (2012) · Journal of the Association for Information Systems · doi:10.17705/1jais.00284 · Cited by 344
Harnessing the power of theorising in implementation science
Kislov, R., Pope, C., Martin, G. P., & Wilson, P. M. (2019) · Implementation Science · doi:10.1186/s13012-019-0957-4 · Cited by 289
Publishing in AMJ —Part 7: What's Different about Qualitative Research?
Bansal, P. (., & Corley, K. (2012) · Academy of Management Journal · doi:10.5465/amj.2012.4003 · Cited by 304
Self-citationNaeem, M., Ozuem, W., Howell, K., & Ranfagni, S. (2024) · International Journal of Qualitative Methods · doi:10.1177/16094069241229777 · Cited by 294
Archetypes of Service Innovation: Implications for Value Cocreation
Helkkula, A., Kowalkowski, C., & Tronvoll, B. (2018) · Journal of Service Research · doi:10.1177/1094670517746776 · Cited by 224
scientific contributions of within-person research in management: Making the juice worth the squeeze
McCormick, B. W., Reeves, C. J., Downes, P. E., Li, N., & Ilies, R. (2020) · Journal of Management · doi:10.1177/0149206318788435 · Cited by 194
AMD—Clarifying What We Are about and Where We Are Going
Bamberger, P. A. (2018) · Academy of Management Discoveries · doi:10.5465/amd.2018.0003 · Cited by 184
Risk and the future of AI: Algorithmic bias, data colonialism, and marginalization
Arora, A., Barrett, M., Lee, E., Oborn, E., & Prince, K. (2023) · Information and Organization · doi:10.1016/j.infoandorg.2023.100478 · Cited by 173
Burton-Jones, A., McLean, E. R., & Monod, E. (2015) · European Journal of Information Systems · doi:10.1057/ejis.2014.31 · Cited by 167
Mäntymäki, M., Islam, A. K. M. N., & Benbasat, I. (2020) · Information Systems Journal · doi:10.1111/isj.12262 · Cited by 171
“As pointed out by Corley and Gioia (2011) and Hambrick (2007), focusing on a relevant practical problem not only strengthens the practical utility of the study but is a good starting point for theory development and making a theoretical contribution.”
BackgroundInfluentialSingh, J., Karanika-Murray, M., Baguley, T., & Hudson, J. (2020) · International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health · doi:10.3390/ijerph17196987 · Cited by 132
Editors’ Comments: There Is Nothing So Theoretical As Good Practice—A Call for Phenomenal Theory
Ployhart, R. E., & Bartunek, J. M. (2019) · Academy of Management Review · doi:10.5465/amr.2019.0087 · Cited by 114
An attention-based view of AI assimilation in public sector organizations: The case of Saudi Arabia
Alshahrani, A., Dennehy, D., & Mäntymäki, M. (2022) · Government Information Quarterly · doi:10.1016/j.giq.2021.101617 · Cited by 106
Technology transfer services impacts on open innovation capabilities of SMEs
Battistella, C., Ferraro, G., & Pessot, E. (2023) · Technological Forecasting and Social Change · doi:10.1016/j.techfore.2023.122875 · Cited by 65
Theory-oriented software engineering
Stol, K.-J., & Fitzgerald, B. (2015) · Science of Computer Programming · doi:10.1016/j.scico.2014.11.010 · Cited by 63
Overstreet, R. E., Hazen, B. T., Skipper, J. B., & Hanna, J. B. (2014) · Journal of Business Logistics · doi:10.1111/jbl.12043 · Cited by 43
Wright, N. S., & Reames, T. G. (2020) · Sustainability · doi:10.3390/su12124986 · Cited by 21
Management Control Research and the Management of Uncertainty: Rethinking Knowledge in Management
Saulpic, O., & Zarlowski, P. (2014) · Management Control and Uncertainty · doi:10.1057/9781137392121_14 · Cited by 15
Marketing to the Machine: Rethinking Global Marketing for the AI Era
Sands, S., & Campbell, C. (2026) · Journal of Global Marketing · doi:10.1080/08911762.2026.2697021
“This article is conceptual and theory-building in nature (Corley & Gioia, 2011; Whetten, 1989).”
Metadata
- Authors
- Corley, K. G., & Gioia, D. A.
- Venue
- Academy of Management Review
- Publisher
- Academy of Management
- Published
- 2011-01
- Volume
- 36
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 12-32
- ISSN
- 0363-7425 (ISSN-L)
- 1930-3807
- OpenAlex
- W2188966318
- Cited by
- 1,682
- References
- 11
- FWCI
- 96.24
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
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