Contribution Framing (asq-contribution-framing)

When to trigger

• Results exist but you cannot state the contribution in one crisp sentence
• The intro/discussion reads as "we found X" rather than "we change how the field thinks"
• A reviewer says "interesting findings, but what's the theoretical contribution?"
• The paper risks reading as a method demonstration rather than a theory advance

The ASQ standard: a theoretical contribution, not a finding

At ASQ the deliverable is a change in how organization theorists understand something. A finding answers a question; a contribution reframes the question or overturns a prior. Frame around the surprise identified in asq-topic-selection and the mechanism from asq-theory-development. The ASQ archetype is a paper that gives the field a new lens it cannot un-see — the garbage-can model of organizational choice (Cohen, March & Olsen 1972, ASQ) or Barley's (1986, ASQ) reconception of technology as an occasion for structuring. Note what is not the ASQ deliverable: an improvement in firm performance (the SMJ register) or a well-powered confirmation of a moderated hypothesis (a common AMJ profile) is not, by itself, a theoretical contribution here.

Types of contribution (name yours)