摘要：As academic scholars in an applied field our central mission is to develop theory that both contributes knowledge to the academic discipline and applies that knowledge to practice. But the consumption of theories is not straightforward owing both to the cognitive limitations of the human mind and the ineffective cognitive designs of our theories – both of which limit the effectiveness of our theories. We outline the ontological position and the characteristics of the concept of effective theory, which is theory that is incrementally and iteratively designed in order to be purposeful – both in terms of its utility (which is largely a matter of content) but also in its communication (which is largely a question of presentation) to an audience. We realise that the research community may question our arguments on a number of philosophical grounds and we, therefore, take this opportunity to make the case for effective theory and to briefly outline an appropriate framework for its study.
关键词：Theory; Effective Theory; Design Science; Philosophy; Practice
