Borrowed Theory in Original vs.

New Disciplines
Stephen Downing 10 Jan. 2014
Content
Brief Literature Review
Research Questions
Data & Analysis
Results
Conclusions
2
Brief Literature Review
Borrowed Theory Examples
Borrowed Theory Application
Social Exchange
explore motivational factors of knowledge sharing in
large, information-intensive organizations
Hall, 2003
Evolutionary interpret how firms renew organizational competencies Burgelman, 1991
Ecosystem
explain firm competition and cooperation with
internationally interconnected and interdependent
supply chains, customers, complementors, etc.
Moore, 1993
4
Classifications of Borrowed Theories
Paradigmatic
Theories
Propositional
Arguments
Broad theory used to
explain phenomena
One concept used to
explain another concept
Example: Example:
behavioral theory (March
and Simon, 1958) and
equity theory (Mowday,
1991) to explain
differences in employee
motivation
level of environmental
uncertainty (Lawrence and
Lorsch, 1967) to explain the
levels of integration and
differentiation among
organizational units
Cross-level
(vertical)
Cross-Context
(horizontal)
Borrowing theories
that were developed
at different levels of
analysis
Borrowing theories
developed for study of
phenomena in other
social contexts
Example: Example:
social involvement
literature from sociology
(Davis et al, 2004) used
for organizational
research
Keystone effect from
ecology to management
science (to be
addressed later)
Source: Whetten, Felin, & King,
2009
Source: Prabhakar, 2010
5
Limitation of Theory Borrowing:
Within Discipline: Between Disciplines:

O
r
i
g
i
n
a
t
i
o
n


A
p
p
l
i
c
a
t
i
o
n

6
Example of Misused Borrowed Theory
Freudian theories applied to
motivational research for
marketing purposes in
1940s and 1950s.
Proved ineffective and
inappropriate; eventually
discontinued.
Murray and Evers argue its
due to three aspects of
borrowed theory.
Freudian Theories Motivation Research
Helping Disturbed
Patients
Superstructure
Explaining Typical
Behavior
Interpretive Type of Science Logical Empirical
Psychoanalysis:
19
th
Century Vienna
Social Context
Consumer Behavior:
1950s America
Source: Murray & Evers, 1989
7
Trade-offs of Theory Borrowing
Usefulness Debate
Benefits Costs
Essential for
interdisciplinary fields
(e.g., marketing)
Has led to dead-ends
Has led to creative and
illuminating issues of
theory
Wasted time of
researchers
Efficient to use available
resources for research
Wasted resources of
academic institutions
Appropriateness Debate
Source: Murray & Evers, 1989;
Murray, Evers, & Janda, 1995
Source: Floyd, 2009; Zahra & Newey,
2009; Markoczy & Deeds, 2009
Pro Con
Borrowing Theories has helped
organizational studies develop
credibility and legitimacy
(Agarwal and Hetker, 2007)
Sacrifice goal of developing
management science as
legitimate academic field
Opportunities in three types:
1. Application/replication
2. Extension (focal domain)
3. Transformation (parent
domain)
Theories should be built
within focal domain

8
Research Questions
Methodological Implications
Time from Awareness of Problem
L
e
v
e
l

o
f

U
n
c
e
r
t
a
i
n
t
y

Exploratory
Descriptive
Causal
Suitable Research Type for Context
Qualitative
Quantitative
How does the application of
borrowed theory compare in the
original and new disciplines?
The type of research usually
depends on the level of
uncertainty and the timeframe.
10
Research Questions
1. Does application of the borrowed theory differ from original to new
discipline? How?
Qualitative vs. quantitative
Exploratory (or descriptive) vs causal
2. Does the research methodology of applying the borrowed theory
change over time? How?
Early, middle, vs. late periods after theory introduced (borrowed)
3. Does that change over time differ between the original and new
disciplines? How?

11
Focal Study:

Keystone
Species
Concept

Borrowed
from Ecology

for Mgmt.
Science
keystone
species
Parent Discipline New Focal Discipline
Context Ecological ecosystem Business ecosystem
General Actor Organism Firm
Health
Evaluation
Metrics
1.Productivity,
2.Robustness,
3.Niche Creation
1.Firm ROI,
2.Surviving Firms
3.New firms/tech
Specific Roles
Food web hierarchical roles
(predator, prey, etc.)
Keystone, dominator,
landlord, niche
Identification
Metrics
Biomass density/diversity,
trophic position,
Food web links
Firm size & growth,
Contracts and supply chain
links
Analysis
Methodology
Experimental removal,
Network visualization
Network visualization,
(though mostly qualitative)
12
Focal Study: Keystone Species
Graph Source: Google Ngrams Viewer, smoothing factor = 3, case insensitive
ecosystem
borrowed for
business context
(Moore, 1993)
keystone species
originated in ecology
(Paine, 1966)
keystone
species
borrowed for
business
ecosystem
strategy
(Iansiti & Levien,
2004)
?
13
Keystone Species:
Summary of Prevalence in the literature
keystone species
keystone
strategy
keystone
effect
Search Citations
keystone species 21,600
keystone effect 983
keystone strategy 197
keystone species and keystone
effect
65
keystone species and keystone
effect
17
21,600
197
983
65
17
Sources: Google Scholar and (NCTU)
Library e-database peer-reviewed citations
14
Data and Analysis
Text Analysis Corpus
163 total journal articles involving
keystone species
New Discipline: Mgmt. Science
Context: business ecosystem
2004 2013 timeframe (n = 103)
Original Field: Ecology
Context: ecological ecosystem
1965 2013 timeframe (n = 59)

All analyses performed using RapidMiner 5.
16
Text Corpus Divisions by Time Periods
0
5
10
15
20
25
Early: 1966 -
1993
Middle: 1994 -
2001
Late: 2002 -
2013
Sample Citations per Period
in Ecology
0
10
20
30
40
50
Early: 2004 -
2007
Middle: 2008 -
2010
Late: 2011 -
2013
Sample Citations per Period
in Mgmt. Science
17
Text Analysis: Group and Period Simulated
Probabilities via Nave Bayes Classifier
Application of Bayes theorem

(
1

)
(
1

)

Produces posterior probability (p) of group
classification (

), given certain evidence

(F
1
F
n
)
Strong independence assumptions
Articles analyzed for probability of indicator
tokens by term frequency-inverse document
frequency (TF-IDF) in sample corpus by
academic field
time period
Tokens := n-grams (words) of n=1,2,3
18
Results
19
Q1: Does application of the borrowed theory differ
from original to new discipline?
Mgmt. Science: More Qualitative Ecology: More Quantitative
20
Mgmt. Science vs. Ecology Mgmt. Science vs. Ecology
qualitative research quantify
Q1: Does application of the borrowed theory differ
from original to new discipline?
Mgmt. Science: More Exploratory Ecology: More Causal
21
Mgmt. Science vs. Ecology Mgmt. Science vs. Ecology
exploratory experiment
A1: Yes, application of the borrowed theory differs
from original to new discipline.
Most Frequent
Word stems:
Ecology Business
Exploratory
Causal
Qualitative
Quantitative
22
Q2: Does the research methodology of applying
the borrowed theory change over time?
Early Period: Exploratory Middle Period: Exploratory
23
Management Science
Management Science
business ecosystem concept business ecosystem development
Q2: Does the research methodology of applying
the borrowed theory change over time?
Middle Period: Qualitative Late Period: Quantitative
24
Management Science
Management Science
qualitative analysis quantitative analysis
Q2: Does the research methodology of applying
the borrowed theory change over time?
Late Period: Exploratory Late Period: Exploratory & Causal
25
Management Science
Management Science
exploratory research exploratory analysis
A2: Yes, the research methodology of applying the
borrowed theory changes over time.
Mgmt. Science Early Middle Late
Exploratory
Causal
Qualitative
Quantitative
26
Q3: Does that change over time differ between the
original and new disciplines?
Early: Early:
27
Management Science
Ecology
business ecosystem concept data collection
Q3: Does that change over time differ between the
original and new disciplines?
Middle: Middle:
28
Management Science
Ecology
qualitative analysis experiment
Q3: Does that change over time differ between the
original and new disciplines?
Late: Late:
29
Management Science
Ecology
data collection analysis quantify
A3: Yes, that change over time differs between the
original and new disciplines.
Mgmt. Science Early Middle Late Ecology Early Middle Late
Exploratory Exploratory
Causal Causal
Qualitative Qualitative
Quantitative Quantitative
30
Conclusions
31
Borrowed Theory in Parent vs. New Discipline
Majority Classification by
Discipline:
Original:
Ecology
New:
Mgmt. Science
Methodology Progression
over Time
Standard:
Exploratory Confirmatory
Stalled:
Exploratory Exploratory
Clarity of Phenomena Certainty Ambiguity
Research Purpose Causal
Exploratory
(Descriptive)
Approach Quantitative Qualitative
32
Takeaways
Authors using borrowed theory (keystone species) described their own work as
exploratory in relatively later periods and to greater extent than authors do in the
originating field
Certainty and authoritativeness suffer from borrowed theory in later stages
Borrowed theories are ready-made, provide timeliness, cost benefit in the short run,
but the benefit decreases faster than theories originated in the discipline
Except in the case of being the first one to borrow a theory with good cause, or
applying a borrowed theory in a novel way, or when facing strict temporal/monetary
constraints, then originating theory through research may allow more certainty and
consistency applying the theory within original discipline.
Managerial Implications
Given substantial research costs in time and resources:
large firms may benefit from propriety research originating theory (i.e.,
developing theories related to their specific business problem)
Small firms may find it more cost effective to apply insight from borrowed
theory to arrive at faster, cheaper conclusion (i.e., essentially buying a copy
of a research report instead of investing in propriety research).
References
Burgelman, R. a. (1991). Intraorganizational Ecology of Strategy Making and
Organizational Adaptation: Theory and Field Research. Organization Science,
2(3), 239262. doi:10.1287/orsc.2.3.239
Floyd, S. W. (2009). Borrowing Theory: What Does This Mean and When Does
It Make Sense in Management Scholarship? Journal of Management Studies,
46(6), 10571058. doi:0022-2380
Hall, H. (2003). Borrowed theory. Library & Information Science Research, 25(3),
287306. doi:10.1016/S0740-8188(03)00031-8
Iansiti, M., & Levien, R. (2004). Strategy as Ecology. Harvard Business Review,
82(3), 6878. Retrieved from
http://ezproxy.lib.nctu.edu.tw:2088/ContentServer.asp?T=P&P=AN&K=12383702
&S=R&D=bth&EbscoContent=dGJyMNHr7ESep7E4zOX0OLCmr0meprNSr6+4Sr
eWxWXS&ContentCustomer=dGJyMPGstEqurrNOuePfgeyx44Dt6fJJ
Markczy, L., & Deeds, D. L. (2009). Theory Building at the Intersection: Recipe
for Impact or Road to Nowhere? Journal of Management Studies, 46(6), 1076
1088.
Moore, J. (1993). Predators and Prey: A New Ecology of Competition. Harvard
Business Review, 71(3), 7586. Retrieved from
http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/jim/files/2010/04/Predators-and-Prey.pdf
Murray, J. B., & Evers, D. J. (1989). Theory Borrowing and Reflectivity in
Interdisciplinary Fields. Advances in Consumer Research, 16, 647652.
Murray, J., Evers, D., & Janda, S. (1995). Marketing, theory borrowing, and critical
reflection. Journal of Macromarketing, (Fall), 92106. Retrieved from
http://jmk.sagepub.com/content/15/2/92.short
Paine, R. T. (1966). Food web complexity and species diversity. The American
Naturalist, 100(910), 6575. doi:10.1086/282400
Paine, R. T. (1969). The Pisaster-Tegula interaction: prey patches, predator food
preference, and intertidal community structure. Ecology, 50(6), 950961.
doi:10.2307/1936888
Prabhakar, K. (2010). Borrowing Theory from other disciplines to Management.
methodspace.com. Retrieved November 12, 2013, from
http://www.methodspace.com/group/crossingboundaries/forum/topics/borrowing-
theory-from-other
Whetten, D. a., Felin, T., & King, B. G. (2009). The Practice of Theory Borrowing
in Organizational Studies: Current Issues and Future Directions. Journal of
Management, 35(3), 537563. doi:10.1177/0149206308330556
Zahra, S. A., & Newey, L. R. (2009). Maximizing the Impact of Organization
Science: Theory-Building at the Intersection of Disciplines and / or Fields. Journal
of Management Studies, 46(6), 10591075.
35
List of articles in text analysis sample corpus omitted for brevity; available upon request.