The reception of theory in futures and foresight: A commentary on Fergnani and Chermack

While the bulk of this commentary is oriented toward a scholarly conversation in management studies and organizational sociology hosted by Administrative Science Quarterly in 1995, the target audience is readership of this journal, which includes individuals established in the field and relative newcomers. Two articles in Fergnani and Chermack's piece, namely Sutton and Staw’s (1995) “What Theory is Not” and Wieck's (1995) and “What Theory is Not, Theorizing Is,” are prominently cited, meanwhile, a third article in this tripartite set is not included, which is DiMaggio’s (1995) “Comments on “What Theory is Not”.” As we shall see, the omitted work by DiMaggio is especially instructive for our academic community as we seek to live-up to the challenges set out in Fergnani and Chermack's provocatively named article “The resistance to scientific theory in futures and foresight, and what to do about it.”