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amr-topic-selection

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Use when the theoretical puzzle is the bottleneck for an Academy of Management Review (AMR) manuscript — deciding whether an idea is theory-worthy and AMR-fit before any theorizing begins. Frames the puzzle; it does NOT build constructs (that is amr-theory-development) or design any empirical study (AMR has none).

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Source SKILL.md: https://github.com/brycewang-stanford/Awesome-Journal-Skills/blob/HEAD/Academy-of-Management-Review-Skills/skills/amr-topic-selection/SKILL.md

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Topic Selection: Is There a Theoretical Puzzle? (amr-topic-selection)

When to trigger

  • You have an interesting phenomenon, trend, or anomaly but no theory yet
  • You are unsure whether the idea is "big enough" for AMR
  • The idea feels like a study you'd run rather than a theory you'd build
  • You can describe what happens but not why existing theory fails to explain it

The AMR fit test

AMR wants a theoretical puzzle, not a topic. A topic is "leadership and remote work." A puzzle is "existing leadership theory predicts X, yet under condition C we should see not-X — and no current theory resolves the contradiction." Run every idea through:

  1. Is it conceptual? AMR publishes no data. If the natural next step is "collect a sample," stop — that is AMJ/ASQ/SMJ. AMR builds the theory those journals later test.
  2. Is there a genuine puzzle / tension / contradiction? A gap ("no one has studied Z") is NOT a puzzle. A puzzle is a place where current theory is internally inconsistent, incomplete in a specific way, or makes a prediction that fails.
  3. Whose theory is at stake? Name the existing theory you will challenge and extend. If you cannot, route to amr-literature-positioning.
  4. Will it change how scholars think? AMR asks for theory that reorients a conversation, not an incremental relabeling.
  5. Does it yield testable knowledge-based claims? AMR's scope requires submissions to "extend theory in ways that develop testable knowledge-based claims." You do no testing — but your propositions must, in principle, be refutable by someone, later.
  6. Is the scope a journal article, not a book? One focused theoretical move, fully developed.

AMR's own scope names four legitimate paths for a topic: (a) develop new theory; (b) significantly challenge or clarify existing theory; (c) synthesize recent advances into fresh theory; (d) identify and delineate a novel theoretical problem. If your idea fits none of these, it is likely not AMR. Exemplars to emulate: Oliver's "Strategic Responses to Institutional Processes" (AMR 1991, DOI 10.5465/amr.1991.4279002) challenged institutional theory's conformity assumption by theorizing agency; Dyer & Singh's "The Relational View" (AMR 1998, DOI 10.5465/amr.1998.1255632) synthesized a new locus of advantage. Neither used data.

Sources of a strong AMR puzzle

Puzzle typeLooks like
Theoretical contradictionTwo established theories make opposite predictions in the same setting
Boundary failureAn accepted theory breaks down at a condition no one has theorized
Construct ambiguityA widely used construct conflates two distinct phenomena that should be separated
Missing mechanismAn empirical regularity is robust but the why has never been theorized
Phenomenon outrunning theoryA new organizational form / practice that current categories cannot capture
ReconceptualizationAn old construct, re-specified, dissolves a long-standing debate

From phenomenon to puzzle (worksheet)

  • State the phenomenon in one sentence (no jargon).
  • State what existing theory predicts here.
  • State why that prediction is incomplete, wrong, or self-contradictory.
  • State the one-sentence theoretical question that the paper will answer.
  • State what scholars will be able to think/explain after your paper that they cannot now.

If any line is blank, the idea is not yet AMR-ready.

Checklist

  • The deliverable is theory, not an empirical test (no data implied as the payoff)
  • A specific tension / contradiction / breakdown is named, not merely a "gap"
  • The existing theory to be challenged and extended is identified
  • The theoretical question fits in one sentence
  • The "so what for theory" is articulable before any propositions exist
  • Scope is one focused theoretical move, not a survey of a field

Anti-patterns

  • "No one has studied X" framed as the contribution (a gap is not a puzzle)
  • An empirical project wearing a theory costume — the real payoff is data
  • A literature-review topic ("the state of research on X") with no new theoretical move
  • Relabeling an existing construct and calling it new
  • A puzzle so broad it would take a book; or so narrow it is a footnote to one paper

The most common AMR desk reject is "this is an empirical paper"; the next is "incremental theory." Screen for both here, before investing in amr-theory-development.

Output format

【Phenomenon】one sentence
【Theoretical tension】what existing theory predicts vs. what should hold
【Theory at stake】the conversation to challenge & extend
【Theoretical question】one sentence
【So-what for theory】what scholars can newly explain
【AMR fit】yes / borderline (route empirical work elsewhere) / no
【Next step】amr-literature-positioning