As a powerful means of theory building, conceptual articles are increasingly called for in marketing academia. However, researchers struggle to design and write non-empirical articles because of the lack of commonly accepted templates to guide their development. The aim of this paper is to highlight methodological considerations for conceptual papers: it is argued that such papers must be grounded in a clear research design, and that the choice of theories and their role in the analysis must be explicated and justified. The paper discusses four potential templates for conceptual papers – Theory Synthesis, Theory Adaptation, Typology, and Model – and their respective aims, approach for using theories, and contribution potential. Supported by illustrative examples, these templates codify some of the tacit knowledge that underpins the design of non-empirical papers and will be of use to anyone undertaking, supervising, or reviewing conceptual research.
See Full PDF See Full PDFThis article develops and applies a conceptual analysis method (CAM). The CAM is a critical reflection on multiple definitions and descriptions of concepts and terms all used to refer to a phenomenon or the experiences of it. The method particularly helps researchers working in emerging research fields to discover any conceptual confusion and elucidate multiple terms and concepts. We demonstrate the utility of the CAM by discovering conceptual confusion on an example field: business relationship uncoupling, and elucidating its terms and concepts. This article adds to the discussion on the importance of conscious conceptual language for theory development, on the level of a research field.
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Journal of Marketing
This article presents a framework for understanding and revitalizing the important role of conceptual articles in the development of knowledge in the marketing discipline. An analysis of 30 years (1978–2007) of publishing data from major marketing journals indicates that conceptual articles are declining, despite repeated calls for more emphasis on this form of scholarship. The sharpest decline has occurred in Journal of Marketing (JM), with much of the shift occurring over the past decade. Many substantive areas remain largely unexplored in conceptual articles. Over this 30-year period, conceptual articles published in JM have disproportionately more citations relative to their numbers, attesting to the importance of their role in knowledge development. Addressing the decline of conceptual articles and restoring their synergistic balance with other forms of scholarship will require concerted efforts on several interrelated fronts: the current generation of scholars; doctoral progra.
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The conceptual article can make a valuable contribution to the scholarly conversation but presents its own special challenges compared to the traditional article that reports empirical findings or interpretive analysis with a familiar organizational structure. This article provides a guide to this task, organized around the process of concept explication-the development of theoretical concepts with careful attention to the interplay between their definition and measurement. From ideation to the final writing stage, one must carefully specify how these concepts are connected together in a broader theoretical argument. Examples of this kind of conceptual work are drawn from the field of journalism studies and communication to guide writers in moving beyond an essay that summarizes literature to an article that makes an original contribution, writing in such a way that the key argument is communicated effectively.
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A conceptual model is a framework that is initially used in research to outline the possible courses of action or to present an idea or thought. When a conceptual model is developed in a logical manner, it will provide a rigor to the research process. This paper examines the process of building a conceptual model for business research. Conceptual models, being an intermediate theory, a suitable theory building process can be adopted for its development. The basic definitions of a theory, its elements and characteristics of a good theory are first understood and the different theory-building processes are evaluated. The various concepts are then synthesized and the process of conceptual model development is explained systematically with an illustration. This paper guides the researchers to develop a conceptual model with a good level of abstraction that establishes vigor in business research process.
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The impetus of this paper is the irreplaceable role yet confusing use of the term " conceptual framework " in research literature. Even though, there is a consensus among scholars of various field of study that conceptual framework is essential element of research endeavors, yet it is used interchangeably with theoretical framework, that create confusion. As a PhD student on the pre-proposal work, this makes me more anxious. Then my intent is to explore its conceptual meaning and purposes by bringing together similar meanings from different scholars with a view to shed some light on its understanding and its use in research. Hence, in attempting to address this, the following key terms; Concept, conceptual framework research design and theoretical framework are defined briefly as to help decipher the conceptual ties among them and illuminate the conceptual meaning and purpose of conceptual framework. The schematic representation of conceptual framework is developed based on the conceptual meaning provided by scholars. In doing this it is attempted to show conceptual meaning of conceptual framework in relation to research design, paradigms and philosophical assumptions that delineate it from theoretical framework. Conceptual framework serves essential role in inductive research design, while theoretical framework serves similar role in deductive research design.
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Despite the number of developed theories, it still remains a difficult task for some established and emerging scholars in various academic fields to clearly articulate new theories from research studies. This paper reviews and collates the views of scholars on what a theory is and how a good theory can be developed. It explains the concept of a theory, and the different components that make up a theory. The paper discusses the different processes of theory development by emphasizing what theory is and what theory is not. This review found that scholars differ in their definition of a theory, which leads to using terms such as model, paradigm, framework, and theory interchangeably. It found the lack of theoretical constructs in a study to be one of the factors which explains why articles are rejected for publication. This paper may be of benefit to established researchers who may be struggling with theory development, and especially younger academics who are the future of scholarship in various academic fields, particularly in information science.
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Journal of African Interdisciplinary Studies
This article critically discusses, the relationship between conceptual framework and theoretical framework drawing on their differences and similarities. The article has made it very clear that whereas the theoretical framework is drawn from the existing theoretical literature that you review about your research topic, a conceptual framework is a much broader concept that encompasses practically all aspects of your research. The latter refers to the entire conceptualisation of your research project. It is the big picture, or vision, comprising the totality of research. Methodologically, the paper used systematic and experiential literature review to draw supporting scholarly literature by authorities in the field and made inferences, sound reasonings and logical deductions from these authorities. The primary aim of this paper is to help researchers and students to understand the convergence and the divergence of theoretical and conceptual frameworks in order to appropriately be applied in research and academic writing discourses. Understanding the conceptual framework affects research in many ways. For instance, it assists the researcher in identifying and constructing his/her worldview on the phenomenon to be investigated. Also, it is the simplest way through which a researcher presents his/her asserted remedies to the milieu he/she has created. In addition, this accentuates the reasons why a research topic is worth studying, the assumptions of a researcher, the scholars he/she agrees with and disagrees with and how he/she conceptually grounds his/her approach. Paying attention, to the theoretical framework and its impact on research, it can be mentioned that theoretical framework provides a structure for what to look for in the data, for how you think of how what you see in the data fits together, and helps you to discuss your findings more clearly, in light of what existing theories say. It helps the researcher to make connections between the abstract and concrete elements observed in the data. In conclusion, both theoretical framework and conceptual framework are good variables which are used to inform a study to arrive at logical findings and conclusions. It is therefore recommended by researchers that; a good theoretical framework should be capable of informing the concepts in a research work.
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This is an opinion piece on the subject of whether or not 'theoretical' and 'conceptual' frameworks are conceptual synonyms, or they refer to different constructs. Although, generally, a lot of liter ature uses these two terms interchangeably – suggesting that they are conceptually equivalent, the researcher argues that these are two different constructs – both by definition and as actualised during the research process. Thus, in this paper, the researcher starts by developing his argument by examining the role of theory in research, and then draws a distinction between areas of research that typically follow deductive versus inductive approaches, with regard to both the review of literature and data collection. The researcher then subsequently argues that whereas a deductive approach to literature review typically makes use of theories and theoretical frameworks, the induct ive approach tends to lead to the development of a conceptual framework – which may take the form of a (conceptua l) model. Examples depicting this distinction are advanced.
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