Editors’ Comments: Styles of Theorizing and the Social Organization of Knowledge

There are many ways of theorizing (Swedberg, 2012: 2), yet we seem to observe comparatively few of these forms in management scholarship. Given the diverse phenomena of interest to us, it is striking that theorizing about them seems to be dominated by a rather limited subset of the range of approaches available. In this essay we seek to explore the context within which theory development and publication are taking place. We ask, “Why do so few styles of theorizing dominate current scholarship? What are the prospects and implications for creating a more diverse approach to theory development?” In doing so we pay attention to the politics of knowledge creation, including the issue of internationalizing theory, and the methodological causes of this limited diversity. Our key arguments here are as follows:

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