Understanding the Why, What, and How of Theories in IS Research

Title data

Müller, Benjamin ; Urbach, Nils:
Understanding the Why, What, and How of Theories in IS Research.
In: Communications of the Association for Information Systems. Vol. 41 (2017) . - 17.
ISSN 1529-3181

Related URLs

Abstract in another language

Theory’s pivotal importance has been emphasized in the information systems (IS) discipline since its inception. As in many fields of science, IS scholars’ ability to understand and contribute to theory is an important qualification in research prac-tice. This requires solid foundations for why we engage with theory, what theory is for us, and how we work with theory. We synthesize and reflect on the debates on theories and theorizing in the IS field. Our key contribution is to inform (new) authors of the prevailing state-of-the-art and to help identify opportunities in theo-rizing to put theory to work. While only a first step, we hope that our synthesis of the status quo advances our discipline’s current efforts towards enhancing theo-rizing and addressing the increasing demand for theoretical contributions and that it critically reflects on the status quo to help us move beyond it.