Individual skill
jcr-theory-development
Use when building the conceptual core of a Journal of Consumer Research (JCR) manuscript — the psychological process and hypotheses for an experiments paper, or the interpretive theorization for a Consumer Culture Theory (CCT) paper. Builds the mechanism; it does not run the studies (jcr-methods/jcr-data-analysis).
Journal-of-Consumer-Research-Skills/skills/jcr-theory-development/SKILL.md
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# Theory Development (jcr-theory-development)
## When to trigger
- You have a consumer effect but no explanatory mechanism
- Hypotheses read as "A relates to B" with no psychological or sociocultural account
- A reviewer says "the theory is thin" or "this is an effect in search of a process"
- You are theorizing fieldwork and need to move from description to conceptual claims
## The JCR standard: theory that advances, deepens, or repudiates
JCR judges manuscripts on whether they **advance, deepen, or repudiate existing theory** about consumption, with conceptual *and* empirical support. The theory section must do conceptual work — not just predict an effect, but explain **why** it occurs in a way that engages an established account and changes it. Substantive framing from psychology, anthropology, sociology, or economics is expected, not a decorative citation.
Because JCR's dominant tradition is **theory-driven behavioral experimentation**, the modal theory section specifies a **psychological process** (the mediator) and the **conditions** under which it operates (moderators), then derives testable hypotheses *a priori*. The journal also publishes interpretive **CCT** work, where "theory development" means building concepts and a conceptual framework grounded in the data rather than deriving point-prediction hypotheses.