When Empirical Contributions are More Important Than Theoretical Contributions

Siponen, Mikko; Jiang, Hemin; Klaavuniemi, Tuula

When Empirical Contributions are More Important Than Theoretical Contributions

dc.contributor.author	Siponen, Mikko
dc.contributor.author	Jiang, Hemin
dc.contributor.author	Klaavuniemi, Tuula
dc.date.accessioned	2024-05-20T22:42:05Z
dc.date.available	2024-05-20T22:42:05Z
dc.date.copyright	© 2024 HICSS
dc.date.issued	2024
dc.description.abstract	Making a theoretical contribution (TC) is a common requirement for the top Information Systems (IS) journals. We argue that the role of TC is misunderstood in IS. In IS, TC is a requirement for paper acceptance. However, TC should be required at the level of research programs. In fact, research programs commonly require studies where the contribution is empirical, and TC comes later. Empirical contributions include (i) obtaining stronger empirical tests, (ii) finding anomalies, (iii) examining a long-term effect or result, and (iv) comparing their effect with rival theories. To repair the situation, we first argue for requiring TC at the level of research programs. We then propose that IS community should recognize studies (e.g., i–iv) in which the nature of contribution is empirical, and TC comes later. We further suggest that the problems related HARKing (Hypothesizing After Results are Known) is minimized, not by requiring TC, but subjecting the empirical findings to stronger causal tests.
dc.format.mimetype	application/pdf
dc.identifier.citation	Siponen, Mikko; Jiang, Hemin; and Klaavuniemi, Tuula, "When Empirical Contributions are More Important Than Theoretical Contributions" (2024). ECIS 2024 Proceedings. 19. https://aisel.aisnet.org/ecis2024/track02_general/track02_general/19
dc.identifier.doi	https://aisel.aisnet.org/ecis2024/track02_general/track02_general/19
dc.identifier.other	https://aisel.aisnet.org/ecis2024/track02_general/track02_general/19
dc.identifier.uri	https://ir.ua.edu/handle/123456789/13664
dc.language	English
dc.language.iso	en_US
dc.publisher	ECIS
dc.rights.license	This work is licensed under a CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 license.
dc.subject	Theoretical contribution
dc.subject	Theory
dc.subject	Empirical contribution
dc.subject	HARKing
dc.title	When Empirical Contributions are More Important Than Theoretical Contributions
dc.type	Conference proceeding