CMP9500B: Doctoral Comprehensive Examination – Business

Part 1 Referencing at least five peer-reviewed journal articles or scholarly books, discuss views on the relationship between theory and application or practice. How can a theory guide or inform practice? What are the issues involved in translating theory into practice? Be sure to keep in mind the various conceptions of theory you discussed in Question 1.

Part 2 Referencing at least five peer-reviewed journal articles, fully describe a theory of current interest in your topic area. A theory is currently of interest if there are articles published on it in the past five years. This theory may or may not be the same as the one you examined in Question 1, Part 3. Describe a current view of the theory, not the founder’s view or a classic view. Your answer should be no more than three pages long.

Part 3 Identify at least five scholarly articles (published in the last 5 years) that address how the theory you discussed in Part 2 has actually been applied. (Draw on your response to Part 1 in order to define what you mean by an application of a theory to an actual problem or situation.) Critically evaluate the appropriateness of the uses to which the theory has been applied. Consider, for example: Are the applications premised upon an accurate understanding of the theory and its scope? Do the applications “go beyond” what the theory claims? Is the reasoning linking application and theory sound?