理论驱动型管理研究

Theory-driven Management Research

管理学理论建构是通过观察和理解具体的实在现象,抽象出具有普适性的结论,这种结论可以对表象进行解释和预测。理论源自猜想,并启发后续实证研究对其进行验证。然而,从哲学层面上看,真理是不可知的,科学研究只是在无限接近真理并尝试用“理论近似物”的形式对理论进行表达。好的理论应兼具普适性、启发性和叙事性,那些能够挑战既有认知并对前提假设进行挑战的理论被视作“有趣”的理论。理论构建一方面需要关于理论基础的训练,另一方面要求学者发挥想象力,通过“训练有素的想象力”,对科学问题和现象进行深刻把握。构建好的理论要求我们区分构念和变量,并懂得运用修辞学技巧。理论构建从更宏观的层次上看是社会构建的过程,那些既富有新意又符合社会期待的理论将具有更大的影响力。

Theory building has been the central interest of management scholars and students.Good theories allow us to better understand organizational phenomena as well as explain and predict outcomes.Theories that consist of guess and falsification inspire subsequent empirical studies to test casual conjunctions.However,from a philosophical point of view,truth is difficult to know,and scientific research is to identify the approximations of truth.A theory is considered a good theory because it questions some existing assumptions in previous studies.Moreover,good theories must be generalizable,enlightening,and narrative.On the one hand,good theory is disciplined imagination,in which scientific problems and phenomena can be deeply explained through thought experiment and selected based on certain criteria.On the other hand,theory construction is also social construction and subject to social section.Finally,clear writing based on rhetoric is important to demonstrate idea flows.