From Bricks to an Edifice: Cultivating Strong Inference in Information Systems Research
Authors: Tiwana, Amrit; Kim, Stephen K.
Journal: Information Systems Research (2019)
<jats:p>MIS research studies often account for prior empirical research findings (i.e., they empirically cumulate) but do not conceptually build atop their ideas and those in adjacent research streams (i.e., they are theoretically less cumulative than they can be). An analogy for disciplines such as ours is that we end up making high-quality, standalone bricks when the intent all along was to build an edifice. We develop two philosophy-of-science ideas—nomological rubberbanding and retroduction—to help cultivate greater theoretical cumulation by shifting the MIS research community’s thinking from “weak” to “strong” inference. This shift characterizes faster-progressing disciplines such as molecular biology and nuclear physics. We use the IT-outsourcing literature to illustrate the application of the two ideas developed here. The two-pronged approach advocated here leverages the cross-disciplinary nature of the MIS discipline, the diversity of research traditions that it encompasses, and its strong culture of empirical cumulation.</jats:p>