With this question I wish to know that some articles clearly mention that our study is based on such and such theory and before explaining their variables they elaborate the underlying theory. Besides that many papers use Self-efficacy, LMX theory, Transformational Leadership etc. as an independent variable(s). Shall they also be considered as a theory.
Dear Mohammed Atif Aman
usually, the variables that are of interest to a research question are preceeded by theoretical explanations in a dedicated chapter. If you wanted to test the hypothesis, according to which self-efficacy makes successful leaders, you would explain Banduras social-cognitive theory and self-efficacy-theory as its cornerstone. If you were more interested in, for example, work experience making successful leader, you would choose a fitting theory for that relation. You may still want to include self-efficacy as a moderator variable but the theoretical explanations would be limited. Ultimately, it depends on the author what he/she considers theory. You rummaging round in a paper desperately trying to find any theory suggests the author has not done a good job at highlighting it.
Best wishes from Germany
Marcel
Some papers test theory, others are descriptive. The theory being tested is usually written at the end of the introduction
Thanks Andrew Paul McKenzie Pegman and Marcel Grieger For your Insights.
The quantitative and deductive researches are based on theories and a good research article explains the theory or theories on which the research is based. But, descriptive, exploratory and qualitative and inductive researches may not explain the theory rather they might be written to identify a phenomenon which may have some specific observation not covered by a theory. Some of such research papers may be vague but some of them may bring a new unexplored area of research leading to a new theory. Hence, we must understand the phenomenon covered by these research articles. This may lead to new theory.
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