Comments on "What Theory is Not"

Abstract

? 1995 by Cornell University. 0001 -8392/95/4003-0391/$1 .00. Sutton and Staw display an unerring eye for the dodges we authors use as substitutes for theory. But these ruses are easier to acknowledge than to do without. Why is this the case? Sutton and Staw suggest that the problem lies in a combination of education (social science faculty don't train our students adequately in theory construction) and talent (not enough of us have that ineffable something that makes a good theorist). Without denying the importance of these factors, especially the first, I would suggest that three additional issues render the problem of theory even more complicated than Sutton and Staw suggest.