Theory and Theory Building

LecturerProf. Carol Saunders, PhD
Department of Management, University of Central Florida, USA
Date16.05.2022, 13:00-18:00
17.05.2022, 9:00-13:00
Individual consultation sessions (on demand; 3-4 weeks after course)
Room/Adress TU Dresden, School of Business and Economics
Building/Room: Festsaal, Hülße-Bau, 3rd floor
Seminar contentThe first part of the course will provide an overview of what theory is, as well as major theory types. Examples of each theory type will be provided. The value of theorizing to build a theory will be discussed. In the second part of the course, an overview of theory building approaches will be introduced and two specific approaches will be explored (e.g., critical pluralist theory building and the grounded theory method), using examples from recent articles published in leading information systems and management journals.
Assignment
  • Seminar attendance and active participation
  • Reading of/familiarization with preassigned articles

Mandatory readings:
1. Gregor, S. (2006) “The nature of theory in information systems,” MIS Quarterly, 30(3), 611-642.
2. Müller, S. D., Mathiassen, L., & Saunders, C. (2020) “Pluralist theory building: A methodology for generalizing from data to theory,” Journal of the Association of Information Systems, 21(1), 23-49.
3. Urquhart, C., Lehmann, H., & Myers, M. D. (2010) “Putting the ‘theory’ back into grounded theory: Guidelines for grounded theory studies in information systems,” Information Systems Journal, 20(4), 357-381.

Additional readings:
  • Müller, S. D., Mathiassen, L., Saunders, C., & Kræmmergaard, P. (2017) “Political maneuvering during business process transformation: A pluralist approach,” Journal of the Association for Information Systems, 18(3), 173-205.
  • Tarafdar, M., & Saunders, C. (2022) “Remote, mobile and blue-collar: ICT-enabled job crafting to elevate occupational wellbeing,” Journal of the Association for Information Systems, forthcoming.

Note: Examples of types of theories to be provided later.
CertificatePh.D. students from the Faculty of Economics, TU Dresden can earn a certificate according to § 9 of the Ph.D. doctoral regulations (PromO 2018):
Ph.D. students of Business Management: § 9 (1) Nr. 5 or 6
Ph.D. students of Business Information Systems: § 9 (1) Nr. 6
Ph.D. students of Economics: § 9 (1) Nr. 6

Ph.D. students from other universities can earn a certificate as well.
Registration This course is full!
If you want to join the waiting list send an e-mail to Dr. Uta Schwarz: uta.schwarz@tu-dresden.de
Phone: +49 351 463-33141