jpart-theory-building
Use when building the theoretical argument of a Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory (JPART) manuscript into a public-management contribution. JPART's defining demand is theory — its abstract template asks for the theoretical approach first and the implications for theory last. Structures the argument; it does not run analyses.
Profile →npx skills add brycewang-stanford/Awesome-Journal-Skills --skill jpart-theory-building --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 Building (jpart-theory-building) At JPART a result is not a contribution until it is attached to **public-management theory the field can use elsewhere.** The journal's own abstract template asks authors to state the **theoretical approach** first and to end with **implications for theory** — that ordering is the whole brief. This skill turns findings into theory: explicit constructs, mechanisms, scope conditions, and observable implications. ## When to trigger - The empirics are strong but the "so what for theory" is thin - A reviewer said the paper is "atheoretical," "ad hoc," or "a finding in search of a theory" - You need to state the mechanism and scope conditions of a PA relationship explicitly - You are deciding whether you *extend*, *test*, *bound*, or *overturn* an existing PA theory ## Build the argument 1. **Concept.** Define the key constructs precisely and distinguish them from neighbors — e.g., red tape vs. administrative burden, PSM vs. job satisfaction, passive vs. active representation. Measurement follows the concept (see `jpart-research-design`). 2. **Mechanism.** The causal story in public-management terms: which actors (street-level bureaucrats, manage
- When to trigger
- Build the argument
- Theory contribution ledger
- Mechanism-to-evidence gate
- Rival-theory stress test
- Theory moves JPART rewards
- The portability test (JPART-specific)
- Abstract-to-conclusion alignment
- Anti-patterns
- Output format
- Supplementary resources
What does the jpart-theory-building skill do?
Use when building the theoretical argument of a Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory (JPART) manuscript into a public-management contribution. JPART's defining demand is theory — its abstract template asks for the theoretical approach first and the implications for theory last. Structures the argument; it does not run analyses.
How do I install it?
Run `npx skills add brycewang-stanford/Awesome-Journal-Skills --skill jpart-theory-building --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.