isr-theory-development
Use when building or refining the mechanism for an Information Systems Research (ISR) manuscript — deriving behavioral hypotheses for empirical work or analytical propositions/equilibrium predictions for modeling work, always centered on the IT artifact and the sociotechnical interplay across levels of analysis. Builds the theory; it does not test it (isr-methods, isr-data-analysis).
Profile →npx skills add brycewang-stanford/Awesome-Journal-Skills --skill isr-theory-development --agent claude-code
Same command for any agent — swap --agent for codex, cursor, copilot.
Weekly change comes from our own snapshots, not the repository page — it measures attention, not adoption.
# Theory Development (isr-theory-development) ## When to trigger - Your predictions are descriptive ("IT use relates to performance") with no mechanism - You have an analytical model but the propositions are unmotivated or the comparative statics are not theorized - A reviewer says "where is the IS theory?" or "this could be any social science" - You must connect a behavioral and an economic/design logic (intradisciplinary work) ## Two theorizing modes — match yours to your genre ISR houses **behavioral/empirical** and **analytical/economic & design-science** research as co-equal genres. The shape of "theory" differs: - **Behavioral mode.** Build an explicit causal **mechanism** centered on the IT artifact: how a feature of the system, platform, or algorithm changes cognition, affect, behavior, interaction, or organizing — then derive hypotheses *a priori*. State the boundary conditions and the level(s) (individual → group → firm → network → society). Theorize mediation (the process) and moderation (when it strengthens/weakens), not just main effects. - **Analytical mode.** Specify agents, payoffs, information structure, and the IT-enabled decision (e.g., platform pricing, security
- When to trigger
- Two theorizing modes — match yours to your genre
- Make it sociotechnical and intradisciplinary
- Worked micro-rewrite: generic prediction → IT-anchored mechanism
- Anchor every construct to the IT artifact
- Checklist
- Anti-patterns
- Output format
What does the isr-theory-development skill do?
Use when building or refining the mechanism for an Information Systems Research (ISR) manuscript — deriving behavioral hypotheses for empirical work or analytical propositions/equilibrium predictions for modeling work, always centered on the IT artifact and the sociotechnical interplay across levels of analysis. Builds the theory; it does not test it (isr-methods, isr-data-analysis).
How do I install it?
Run `npx skills add brycewang-stanford/Awesome-Journal-Skills --skill isr-theory-development --agent claude-code` — it drops the skill into your project so the agent can pick it up. Swap the --agent value for codex, cursor or copilot if you use one of those.
Where does this skill come from?
From brycewang-stanford/Awesome-Journal-Skills, a repository with 909 stars. We read it straight from the repository tree rather than a submitted listing, so what you see here is what is actually published.
Is a popular skill a good skill?
Not necessarily. Stars measure attention, not adoption — a repository can trend for a week and be abandoned. That is why we show the weekly change from our own snapshots next to the total, instead of a single flattering number.