Literature Positioning (amj-literature-positioning)

When to trigger

• The introduction reads as "no one has studied X" (gap-spotting) rather than joining a debate
• The literature review is an annotated list of prior findings, not an argument
• Canonical theoretical works in the focal domain are missing or cited only in passing
• You are unsure which conversation the paper enters and which scholars are the audience
• A reviewer says "I don't see how this advances the literature" or "this misreads prior work"

The positioning move AMJ rewards

AMJ papers join an ongoing theoretical conversation and change it. The front end should name the conversation, show the unresolved tension or contradiction in it, and signal how this study resolves or extends it. "Gap-spotting" — pointing to an empty cell in a table of prior studies — is treated as a weak motivation; AMJ wants a problematization: surfacing and challenging an assumption the literature has taken for granted (Alvesson & Sandberg's problematization argument is the standard reference for this move). AMJ's From the Editors editorials repeatedly press the "so what?" and "who cares?" tests — your positioning must make the contribution matter to the broad management readership, not only a niche.

Three legitimate motivating moves

1. Tension between theories — two literatures predict opposite things; your study adjudicates.
2. Boundary/contingency — an established effect should not hold (or should reverse) under a condition the literature has overlooked, for a theoretical reason.
3. Problematization — an assumption underlying a literature is questionable; relaxing it changes predictions.