Theories from administration and management sciences
Donabedian’s quality framework Theories of organizational behavior Models of conflict and conflict resolution Job satisfaction
Learning theories Bandura’s social cognitive learning theory Developmental learning theory Prospect theory
Components of a Theory A theory has several components, including purpose, concepts and definitions, theoretical statements, structure/linkages and ordering, and assumptions (Chinn & Kramer, 2015; Hardin, 2014; Powers & Knapp, 2010). Creation of conceptual models is also a component of theory development that is promoted to further explain and define relationships, structure, and linkages.
Purpose The purpose of a theory explains why the theory was formulated and specifies the context and situations in
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which it should be applied. The purpose might also provide information about the sociopolitical context in which the theory was developed, circumstances that influenced its creation, the theorist’s past experiences, settings in which the theory was formulated, and societal trends. The purpose of the theory is usually explicitly described and should be found within the discussion of the theory (Chinn & Kramer, 2015).
Concepts and Conceptual Definitions Concepts and concept development are described in detail in Chapter 3. Concepts are linguistic labels that are assigned to objects or events and are considered to be the building blocks of theories. The theoretical definition defines the concept in relation to other concepts and permits the description and classification of phenomena. Operationally defined concepts link the concept to the real world and identify empirical referents (indicators) of the concept that will permit observation and measurement (Chinn & Kramer, 2015; Hardin, 2014; Walker & Avant, 2011). Theories should include explicit conceptual definitions to describe and clarify the phenomenon and explain how the concept is expressed in empirical reality.
Theoretical Statements Once a concept is fully developed and presented, it can be combined with other concepts to create statements to describe the real world. Theoretical statements, or propositions, are statements about the relationship between two or more concepts and are used to connect concepts to devise the theory. Statements must be formulated before explanations or predictions can be made, and development of statements asserting a connection between two or more concepts introduces the possibility of analysis (Hardin, 2014). The several types of theoretical statements include propositions, laws, axioms, empirical generalizations, and hypotheses (Table 4-2)