ABSTRACT
The quotation above is a play on the words of Edwin Starr's famous song, “War,” where he sang, “War, huh yeah/ What is it good for?/ Absolutely nothing.” While I have found Starr's prose to ring true, I adapted the lyrics here to illustrate the primacy of theory in academic pursuits. Theory represents “a statement of constructs and their relationships to one another that explain[s] how, when, why, and under what conditions phenomena take place” (Cunningham, 2013, p. 1). This definition moves theory away from pure description, or the recounting what is taking place. It is also more than an overview of key constructs to consider or a listing of references (Sutton & Staw, 1995). Instead, theory takes the extra step of offering the reader a possible understanding of why different events occur. Why is important and leads to further explanations, such as when, where, and under what conditions phenomena transpire. Importantly, good theory can be tested or explored – and thus, supported or rendered false – and has utility (Bacharach, 1989; van Knippenberg, 2011).
