The Why, What and How of Theories in Information Systems Research

Theory’s pivotal importance has been continuously emphasized in the information systems (IS) discipline ever since its inception. The ability to understand and contribute to theory is an important qualification in the practice of research. Recently we see some of our reference disciplines turn towards reviving their examination of the concept and how it can help producing high quality scholarly contributions.

In light of this trend, we suggest that also the IS discipline should intensify its discussion of theory and theorizing. With a recent publication, we thus intend to synthesize and reflect upon the debate on theories and theorizing in the IS field. As such, our key contribution is to inform (new) authors about opportunities in theorizing and help them put the concept of theory to work for them. Through this, we hope to advance and support the discipline’s current strive towards more theoretical thinking and the increasing demand for theoretical contributions.

The research results have recently been accepted for publication:
Müller, B. and Urbach, N. (2013) The Why, What and How of Theories in Information Systems Research, Proceedings of the 34th International Conference on Information Systems (ICIS 2013), December 15-18, Milano, Italy. (Link)