[AISWorld] The Theories and Products of Theorizing (T-PoT) World Tour Latest Schedule

[Nik Rushdi Hassan]

AISWorld LinkedIn Message

Subject: The Theories and Products of Theorizing (T-PoT) World Tour Latest
Schedule

Dear Colleagues

The SIG Philosophy of Information Systems (SIGPhil) is pleased to announce
the Theories and Products of Theorizing (T-PoT) World Tour that will begin
this Fall starting with a European tour in October and a Southeast Asian
and Australasian tour to coincide with the ICIS Conference in Bangkok in
November and December. The North American tour will be conducted in Spring
2025. The goal of the SIGPhil T-PoT World Tour is to raise the level of
discourse surrounding the single most challenging topic in the IS field: IS
Theory. Despite the compelling progress in that area (Burton-Jones et al.
2021; Gregor 2006; Gregor and Jones 2007; Rivard 2021; Weber 2012), the
status of theory itself was put to debate (Avison and Malaurent 2014; Lee
2014; Markus 2014) so much so that Grover et al., (2008, p. 41) highlighted
how the topic of theory appears to an aspiring student of IS “like
attempting to cross an ocean when one has barely learned to swim.”
Hirschheim (2019) wrote “Against Theory” and the field’s unhealthy
obsession with it, while several senior IS scholars rebutted his
suppositions and claims (Hovorka et al. 2019). In the end, Grover and
Lyytinen (2023, p. 46) submit that “the community appears to strongly share
a view that its current modus operandi in theory building is
unsatisfactory.”

Following a suggestion from Dorothy Leidner, Editor-in-Chief of the Journal
of the AIS, Frantz Rowe and M. Lynne Markus started working on a special
issue for the JAIS with the theme “Envisioning Digital Transformation:
Advancing Theoretical Diversity” (Markus and Rowe 2021). That special
issue (Rowe
and Markus 2023) was the result of a long-drawn effort since 2020 for the
IS community to formulate “theoretical statements that account for”
specific IS phenomena, in other words, something that resembles theory
rather than theory building or perspectives. In several JAIS editorials,
they described the challenges they faced in guiding prospective authors to
submit what they were looking for (Markus and Rowe 2021; Markus and Rowe
2023). JAIS established a new section called “Theory” and explained the
need for more work (Leidner and Gregory 2024). Clearly, the issue
surrounding IS theory remains a major problem (Niederman 2021).

As part of the SIG Philosophy’s continuing efforts in enhancing the IS
field’s engagement with theory, the T-PoT World Tour features a series of
at least 12 workshops that will address the following questions:

1.     Why is the topic of theory and theorizing the single most
challenging topic in the IS field? Why do IS researchers call TAM and IS
Success Model theories when their authors call them models?

2.     Why can’t we agree on whether we have native IS theories or not?

3.     Are models theories? If they differ, what are some implications to
the IS field?

4.     Are frameworks theories? Why do IS researchers often refer to models
as frameworks?

5.     What is a theory and what does a native IS theory look like? How do
we create native IS theories and how do we know if we have one?

6.     When exactly do theories enter the picture in research?

7.     If the IS field is a professional field, where does theory play a
role in practice?

The Journal of Information Technology Special Issue on Products of
Theorizing, a JAIS editorial and the two volumes with Springer (Hassan et
al. 2022; Hassan et al. 2023; Hassan and Willcocks 2021; Willcocks et al.
2023) addressed a few of these questions but did not answer the question on
the nature of theory itself. Drawing from great scholars and theorists
throughout history to answer these questions, the T-PoT World Tour seeks to
revisit that question. Here are some comments from faculty and PhD students
who were introduced to this new discourse on IS theory at the recent AMCIS
2024 Conference and after:

“I found it very helpful that you clearly distinguished the differences
between a model and a theory … particularly useful for framing the context
of our work in theoretical terms” ~ Michael Curry, faculty, Oregon State
University.

“Your approach was simple and effective … being able to distinguish between
Theory vs Models is so critically important … Honestly, a brief encounter
but so influential and delightful … do you see the gears in my head
turning?” ~ Sam Sena, PhD student, ESCP Business School, France.

“We base our knowledge on different assumptions on how knowledge is created
… learning about these IS foundations create a bridge to my formal
background in psychology!” ~ Dorthea Vatn, PhD student, NTNU, Norway,
working on explainable AI.

"You nailed the unexamined issue as soon as I roughly described the model
and then put a box around it and asked: What question is the model
addressing and who is asking the question? Those questions should be
addressed by the theory you said. That blew me away. I thought, "He is
right, there should be a theory. I have not seen a theory referenced, at
all! That explains a lot!" ~ Bill Bonner, faculty, Canada.

“How you framed research with Kuhn’s work then added Foucault pretty much
blew my mind … science is not like … add[ing] bricks to the pile below in a
clean process of ‘building knowledge.’ Instead, occasionally something new
is discovered that requires the toppling of what came before to make room
for something new … following a well-worn path, though potentially
productive, may not be the best way to learn as a scholar” ~ Margaret
Barbieri, PhD Student, University of Manchester, UK.

"I am nearing the close of my PhD journey and have been seeking to clarify
the contribution of my work to theory ... In my search I can't find any
satisfactory definition or clarity on the nature and importance of theory
in IS for my work"  ~ PhD Student, Australia"

“Why wasn’t I taught these things?” ~ PhD Student, Canada.

The T-PoT World Tour in the fall will end with a SIGPhil workshop featuring
a debate/dialogue by Dorothy Leidner, Fred Niederman, Rudy Hirschheim,
Frantz Rowe, Ojelanki Ngwenyama and Nik Hassan that will address these
issues.

Although the European tour is finalized, there is space for workshops in
the Southeast Asian and Australasian tour as well as the North American
tour in 2025. Institutions interested in filling the itinerary for this
world tour can contact Nik Hassan (nhassan at d.umn.edu) or the SIGPhil.
Regional or local flights and lodging are all that’s required. Here’s the
latest schedule (*confirmed, ? not confirmed, Available – slots still
available for visit). If you’re interested in attending a nearby workshop,
please contact the organizer directly for details.

This T-PoT World Tour would not be possible without the generous support of
the following sponsors: University of Galway, University of Leicester,
University of Oslo, Uppsala University, University of Paderborn, Norwegian
University of Science and Technology (NTNU), University of Minnesota Duluth
and the SIG Philosophy in Information Systems.
Europe Fall 2024

Oct 2-3 11:00am-12:30pm Ireland (U. Galway)* Kieran Conboy email:
kieran.conboy at universityofgalway.ie

Oct 7 9:30am-4pm UK (U. Leicester)* Boyka Simeonova email:
b.simeonova at leicester.ac.uk

Oct 9-10 8:00am-4pm Norway (U. Oslo)* Sune Dueholm Müller email:
sunedm at ifi.uio.no)

Oct 11 10:15am-3pm Sweden (Uppsala U.)* Pär Ågerfalk email:
par.agerfalk at im.uu.se

Oct 14 1:30-5pm Oct 15 9am-2pm Germany (U. Paderborn)* Guido Schryen email:
guido.schryen at uni-paderborn.de

Oct 16 1:00-2:30pm Norway (NTNU)* Patrick Mikalef email:
patrick.mikalef at ntnu.no
Southeast Asia/Australasia

Nov 15 Singapore* Discussion with Paul Benjamin Lowry, at Nanyang
Technological University

Nov 18-22 Malaysia (National University of Technology)?

Nov 25 Available

Nov 26 Australia (University of Sydney)?

Nov 27 Australia (Macquarie U.)* Mauricio Marrone email:
mauricio.marrone at mq.edu.au

Nov 28-29 New Zealand (Victoria University)?

Dec 3-6 At ACIS Canberra*, SIG Philosophy Workshop on Enhancing Research
Writing

Dec 9-13 Available

Dec 15-18 ICIS Bangkok*, SIG Philosophy Workshop on Monday, Dec 16 on From
Tinkering with Models to Engaging with Theory
North America/France Spring 2025

TBD USA (Georgia State U.) Lars Mathiassen

TBD USA (Kennesaw State U.)?

March 9-13 France (Sorbonne)?

April 4 Canada (HEC Montreal)* Suzanne Rivard email: suzanne.rivard at hec.ca

April 7 Canada (Queens University)* Abayomi Baiyere email:
a.baiyere at queensu.ca

Don’t hesitate to contact me at nhassan at d.umn.edu if you’d like to fit a
visit into the schedule or have any questions.

Sincerely

Nik, President, SIG Philosophy


References

Avison, D., and Malaurent, J. 2014. "Is Theory King?: Questioning the
Theory Fetish in Information Systems," *Journal of Information Technology*
(29:4) pp. 327-336.

Burton-Jones, A., Butler, B.S., Scott, S.V., and Xu, S.X. 2021.
"Next-Generation Information Systems Theorizing: A Call to Action," *MIS
Quarterly* (45:1) pp. 301-314.

Gregor, S. 2006. "The Nature of Theory in Information Systems," *MIS
Quarterly* (30:3) pp. 611-642.

Gregor, S., and Jones, D. 2007. "The Anatomy of a Design Theory," *Journal
of the AIS* (8:5) pp. 312-335.

Grover, V., and Lyytinen, K. 2023. "The Pursuit of Innovative Theory in the
Digital Age," *Journal of Information Technology* (38:1) pp. 45-59.

Grover, V., Lyytinen, K., Srinivasan, A., and Tan, B.C.Y. 2008.
"Contributing to Rigorous and Forward Thinking Explanatory Theory," *Journal
of the AIS* (9:2) pp. 40-47.

Hassan, N.R., Lowry, P.B., and Mathiassen, L. 2022. "Editorial-Useful
Products in Information Systems Theorizing: A Discursive Formation
Perspective," *Journal of the Association for Information Systems* (23:2)
pp. 418-446.

Hassan, N.R., Rivard, S., Schultze, U., and Willcocks, L. 2023. "Products
of Theorizing—Towards Native Theories of Emerging Information
Technologies," *Journal of Information Technology* (38:4) pp. 372–381.

Hassan, N.R., and Willcocks, L.P. (eds.). 2021. *Advancing Information
System Theories Volume I: Rationale and Processes*. London: Palgrave
Macmillan.

Hirschheim, R. 2019. "Against Theory: With Apologies to Feyerabend," *Journal
of the Association for Information Systems* (20:9) pp. 1340-1357.

Hovorka, D.S., Rowe, F., Markus, M.L., Jarvenpaa, S.L., Swanson, E.B.,
Lacity, M., Burton-Jones, A., Venkatesh, V., and Hirschheim, R. 2019.
"Scholarly Commentaries on Hirschheim’s ‘against Theory’," *Journal of the
Association for Information Systems* (20:9) pp. 1358-1389.

Lee, A.S. 2014. "Theory Is King? But First, What Is Theory?," *Journal of
Information Technology* (29:4) pp. 350-352.

Leidner, D.E., and Gregory, R.W. 2024. "About Theory and Theorizing," *Journal
of the Association for Information Systems* (25:3) pp. 501-521.

Markus, M.L. 2014. "Maybe Not the King, but an Invaluable Subordinate: A
Commentary on Avison and Malaurent’s Advocacy of ‘Theory Light’ IS
Research," *Journal of Information Technology* (29:4) pp. 341-345.

Markus, M.L., and Rowe, F. 2021. "Guest Editorial: Theories of Digital
Transformation: A Progress Report," *Journal of the Association for
Information Systems* (22:2) pp. 273-280.

Markus, M.L., and Rowe, F. 2023. "The Digital Transformation Conundrum:
Labels, Definitions, Phenomena, and Theories," *Journal of the Association
for Information Systems* (24:2) pp. 328-335.

Niederman, F. 2021. "A Minimalist View of Theory: Why This Promises
Advancement for the IS Discipline," *Data Base* (52:4) pp. 119-130.

Rivard, S. 2021. "Theory Building Is Neither an Art nor a Science. It Is a
Craft," *Journal of Information Technology* (36:3) pp. 316 –328.

Rowe, F., and Markus, M.L. 2023. "Envisioning Digital Transformation:
Advancing Theoretical Diversity," *Journal of the Association for
Information Systems* (24:6) pp. 1459-1478.

Weber, R. 2012. "Evaluating and Developing Theories in the Information
Systems Discipline," *Journal of the AIS* (13:1) pp. 1-30.

Willcocks, L., Hassan, N.R., and Rivard, S. (eds.). 2023. *Advancing
Information Systems Theories Volume II: Products and Digitalisation*.
London: Palgrave Macmillan.

-- 
Nik Rushdi Hassan, Professor of MIS and Business Analytics
Labovitz School of Business and Economics
University of Minnesota Duluth
1318 Kirby Drive, LSBE 365P
Duluth MN 55812
Office Phone: (218) 726-7453
Fax: (218) 726-7578
Home Page: www.d.umn.edu/~nhassan
Email: nhassan at d.umn.edu
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/nikrushdi/