Theory and Theorizing in Information Systems Research

Knowledge generation is often seen as one of the key contributions of any science. Consequently, scholars often emphasize the centrality of theories for any scientific endeavor – a thought widely reflected in many disciplines from the natural to the social sciences. While corresponding attention to theoretical work has been at the heart of the Information Systems (IS) discipline for a long time, the focus on theoretical debates and genuine conceptual contributions has been picking up recently – some criticism of the discipline’s alleged ‘theory fetish’ notwithstanding. This is reflected by numerous special issues, journal sections, and conference tracks dedicated to advancing theory and theorizing in IS research as well as many authors’ experiences during the reviews of their work.

The seminar “Theory and Theorizing in Information Systems Research” invites you to join the ongoing discourse on theories and theorizing in the Business and Information Systems Engineering (BISE) and Information Systems (IS) research communities. It is designed to help you build and extend your understanding of the nature and role of theory in BISE and IS research. Through discussions and analyses of current theoretical developments in the BISE and IS discipline, and some of its main reference disciplines, you will engage with theory and advance your skills of building your own theoretical contributions.

The seminar aims to achieve the following learning objectives: It is designed to help you …
(1) … build a foundational understanding of what theory is and what role it plays in research
(2) … develop basic theorizing skills and become familiar with extant theorizing strategies
(3) … understand the current state-of-the-art in theory and theorizing along with its limitations
(4) … develop strategies to publish your own theoretical contributions
(5) … build a network of peers to help you develop your own theoretical contributions

Overall, the seminar is designed to facilitate the advancement of your understanding of theory and theorizing in the BISE / IS discipline and to enhance your theorizing skills related to your own research and thesis work.

Be advised that the seminar is not intended to be a comprehensive or normative prescription of how to engage with theory and theorizing in research. Rather, it aims at encouraging and empowering you to carefully pay attention to your own theoretical contribution and your engagement with the extant knowledge in the field. To do so, the seminar introduces and reviews the necessary foundations as well as current trends in the extant literature. This explicitly includes a critical reflection on the current state of theory in the IS and BISE field to help you advance the current debates on the nature and role of theory and theorizing.

Date:

All the course sessions are hosted around the lunch break on the Fridays in October and November 2025.
10., 17., 24., 31.10.2025 and
07., 14., 21., 28.11.2025

Location:

ONLINE 

The course is designed as a fully virtual seminar, organized around a series of live online sessions. We will be using a combination of Zoom and Slack as a platform to host the live sessions and to enable continued engagement around the seminar’s topics outside of the live interactions.

Language:

English

Lecturer:

Prof. Dr. Benjamin Mueller
Chair of Digital Business
Faculty of Business and Economics
University of Bremen

muellerb@uni-bremen.de 
https://www.linkedin.com/in/benjaminmueller