The use of social theories in 20 years of WG 8.2 empirical research

Abstract

We study the use of social theories in empirical Information Systems research in the IFIP WG 8.2 conference proceedings since the 1984 Manchester conference. Our results are that interpretivist research and the use of qualitative methods have increased significantly and that only 22 percent of included papers generate theory or concepts according to a narrow definition of theory based on Walsham's classification; the majority of WG 8.2 researchers thus appear reluctant to generalize to theory from their findings, particularly when undertaking interpretivist research. However, using a wide definition of theory that includes researchers' own theory used in their papers, we suggest that additional theory is in fact being generated although in a non-explicit manner. We close by pointing out the benefits of theory generation, inviting WG 8.2 researchers to make their use of theory more explicit and to familiarize themselves with the view that there are forms of generality which are possible within the interpretivist paradigm. © 2004 Springer Science + Business Media, Inc.