Developing Interfield Nomological Nets

Abstract

As behavioral research has expanded in Information

Artifact Sampling: Using Multiple Information Technology Artifacts to Increase Research Rigor

“…Likewise, if an artifact has wide acceptance, it may be useful to study its effects without sampling. Artifact sampling is more geared toward nomothetic rather than idiographic research objectives [30], [68]- [70]. Second, guidelines on how to establish the instantiation space are needed to help researchers carefully plan out their instantiation options.…”

Modes of Theory Integration

“…First, initial results from two approaches to construct extraction and visualization for theory development [24,43] demonstrates the potential to vitalize theory development among the business sciences and interfield theory development across disciplinary boundaries. The reduction of synonymous constructs and the integration of multiple theories/models which account for the same phenomenon will bring much needed clarity to Information Systems by reducing construct and theory clutter.…”

A Meta-theoretic Approach to Theory Integration in Information Systems

“…The proliferation of constructs which have different names but measure the same latent phenomenon (synonymy) and constructs which have the same name but measure different phenomenon (polysemy) contribute to fragmentation and unintentional replication of research [22,23].…”

“…Determining synonymy allows constructs that measure the same latent variable to be combined thus reducing the complexity of the nomological network and potentially identifying areas where theories overlap [22]. Although research on the automatic identification or categorization of variables has previously been undertaken [23] this research developed a manually categorized variable set for purposes of training and evaluation which we have here used for visualization of the nomological net.…”

“…As constructs are social constructions intended to measure attributes of things that are not directly observable, consistent definitions are problematic. Constructs have proliferated as the volume of behaviorally-oriented research in Information Systems (IS) and in other disciplines has increased [23,22]. As researchers seek novelty in theoretical contributions, previously measured constructs are sometimes missed in literature reviews and many constructs are renamed with slight or no variation in the measurement instrument.…”