Projectability in Design Science Research

Design science research aims to be prescriptive, purposeful, relevant, and valuable. The propagation of design science theory, models, and principles is a key challenge. In this paper, we discuss this propagation issue and propose an alternative to the backward-looking concept of generalization; namely, the concept of projectability. We present projectability as providing a language for explaining how design theories and design principles, as prescriptive constructs, imply intentionality for operation in other places or times. In 2008, a special issue of MISQ published five design science exemplars. We analyzed the actual projection of the design theories and principles from these papers and found several notable actual projections for all five. However, in all but one case, the papers that developed the projections involved one or more of the original authors. This paucity of propagation indicates that DSR publications need better framing to enable their projectability. Hence, we propose a language and a projection process logic in six parts that better frame (and improve) such projectability.