The Theory Fetish: Too Much of a Good Thing?

(page 2 of 2)

Donald C. Hambrick

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Imagine it is the 1930s, and I am an epidemiologist who has a hunch that cigarette smoking is bad for people. Smoking is stylish and has even been portrayed as healthful, so nagging suspicions to the contrary can make me seem a bit of a crackpot. But I persevere, and, in a series of matched-sample studies, I find recurring evidence that smoking is associated with an array of serious health maladies. As an epidemiologist who is not a biologist, I have no clear insights about the central mechanisms at work, but, convinced my findings should be reported, I submit them to a prominent journal.

If the journal applied the criteria that prevail now in academic management, my paper would be rejected.

Scholarship Needs a Broader View

Note that I am not proposing that our top journals should lower their standards, only that they should shift them. Reviewers would still apply stringent requirements in terms of argumentation, acknowledgment of relevant literature, technical adequacy, and readability. But the requirement for a "contribution to theory" would be replaced with this test: Does the paper have a high likelihood of stimulating future research that will substantially alter managerial theory or practice?

With this criterion in place, some pieces that would be published under current standards would no longer qualify, leaving space in our most elite journals for more consequential articles of other types. In addition, second-tier journals should be inaugurated for the principal purpose of testing existing theories. Today, only papers that have brand-new theoretical angles will be accepted by our top journals; as a result, the vast majority of published ideas in our field are submitted to no tests at all; only a handful are tested even once; and fewer still are tested in multiple ways. If we are to develop a body of knowledge that managers can use for evidence-based decisions, we must allow for the requisite evidence to accumulate.

Let me be clear: Theory is critically important for our field, and we should remain committed to it. And, for sure, the greatest acclaim will always go to those who develop breakthrough theories. But there are other ways for knowledge to advance, and it is long past time we gave them their due.

Donald C. Hambrick is the Smeal Chaired Professor of Management at Penn State University and a former president of the Academy of Management. This article is adapted from a longer piece in the current Academy of Management Journal.