Cognition, horizon and practice: formation of the nonsynchronism in theoretical research of information science
| Date | 09 October 2024 |
| Pages | 259-284 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/JD-02-2024-0032 |
| Published date | 09 October 2024 |
| Author | Fang Wang,Hongzhi Zhu |
Cognition, horizon and practice:
formation of the nonsynchronism
in theoretical research
of information science
Fang Wang and Hongzhi Zhu
Department of Information Resource Management, Business School,
Nankai University, Tianjin, China and
Center for Network Society Governance, Nankai University, Tianjin, China
Abstract
Purpose –The nonsynchronism in theoretical research of information science (IS) is an interesting
phenomenon that has not been sufficiently examined. This study is to reveal the mechanism of its formation
from a microscopic perspective.
Design/methodology/approach –A qualitative research approach was adopted and 22 professors from
different IS fields were interviewed. The data were analyzed with a six-step thematic analysis method.
Findings –The nonsynchronism in IS theoretical research is reflected in three dimensions. Theory cognition
and theory practice shape each other under the constraint of theory horizon. Researchers with similar theory
cognition and practice form a theoretical generation. The inter-generational gap may exist among IS
researchers in different research areas, at different ages, or located in different countries or regions.
Research limitations/implications –This study reveals the formation mechanism of the
nonsynchronism in IS theoretical research from a microscopic perspective of individual researcher’s theory
using practice and offers new insights into the dynamics of the structural evolution of IS theoretical
knowledge.
Practical implications –The results of this study can help to promote internal or external communication in
IS and enhance theoretical education for doctoral students.
Originality/value –This study identifies and theoretically defines a few core themes, theory horizon, theory
cognition, theory practice and theoretical generation, and reveals their relationships. On this basis, a
conceptual model of nonsynchronism in theoretical research is developed.
Keywords Nonsynchronism, Theoretical research, Information science, Theory cognition, Theory horizon,
Theory practice, Theoretical generation
Paper type Research paper
1. Introduction
As a formal and concise description or explanation of the nature or fundamental laws of
things (Buckland, 1991, p. 18; Wang et al., 2021), the theory plays a genetic role in the
inheritance and dissemination of human knowledge. The growth of theories within a science
has even been suggested for evaluating its knowledge growth (Wagner and Berger, 1985;
Vakkari and Kuokkanen, 1997). In the past few decades, the dissemination of the theoretical
knowledge generated in various disciplines has accelerated unprecedentedly with the
Journal of
Documentation
259
The authors would like to give special thanks to the interviewees for their genuine responses and the
editors and reviewers for their enlightening comments and suggestions. This work was funded by the
major project of National Social Science Fund of China (Grant number, 20ZDA039).
Author statements: Fang Wang: Research question, Literature review, Methodology, Conducting
focus group interviews, Data coding and analysis, Article writing and revising. Hongzhi Zhu:
Assistance in conducting focus group interviews, Conducting one-on-one interviews, and Recording the
interview content and process.
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:
https://www.emerald.com/insight/0022-0418.htm
Received 13 February 2024
Revised 7 July 2024
26 August 2024
Accepted 28 August 2024
Journal of Documentation
Vol. 81 No. 1, 2025
pp. 259-284
© Emerald Publishing Limited
0022-0418
DOI 10.1108/JD-02-2024-0032
increase of interdisciplinary communication. Nevertheless, the number, density and sources
of theories created or used in the human knowledge body are quite unbalanced among
countries, disciplines and even research areas within the same discipline. This phenomenon
was named as nonsynchronism in theoretical research by Wang et al. (2021). As one of the
outcomes of historical development, nonsynchronism is determined by the socio-economic
milieu and other factors in relation to the different time experiences of generations
(Mannheim, 1928). That is to say, a science, e.g. information science (IS), does not go through
its theory development stage at the same pace in different socio-economic or academic
environments. Although asynchrony is prevalent in all aspects of human society, reducing
inequality has been an important goal of the research of some social sciences (Nalani et al.,
2021;Staines et al., 2024). The most typical example is the efforts made by IS researchers to
reduce the digital inequality (Kuhn et al., 2023) arising from asynchronous economic
development.
In modern society, scientific research is an important social installation that has
irreplaceable functions in knowledge creation and dissemination that have brought
tremendous vitality and development and are inevitably influenced by economic, social and
political factors. Among various research, theoretical research undertakes the mission of
generating and developing abstract knowledge that can be generalized and inherited.
The unevenness in economic and social development among countries and regions gives
birth to different academic research environments, which may lead to nonsynchronism in
theoretical research. In turn, this kind of nonsynchronism in knowledge creation further
contributes to the nonsynchronism in the development of technology, economy and society.
In this way, the research communities at the top of the theoretical knowledge supply chain
also dominate the global high-tech industrial chains.
The theory is a kind of refined human knowledge that has been verified, preserved and
inherited through history. If all sciences are viewed as plates of the human knowledge globe,
the nonsynchronism among them in theory growth reflects the result of dynamic knowledge
differentiation, collision and integration. Within a science, the nonsynchronism also concerns
its knowledge differentiation and integration, discipline maturity (Van Maanen, 1998) and
paradigm evolution. The increasing nonsynchronism in IS is adding difficulties in the
interaction and collaboration between different academic communities, which is inducing
new differentiation of IS (Wang, 2023). For example, as a traditional field of IS, informetrics is
breaking away from IS and entering many other disciplines, e.g. policy informatics, which is
becoming a branch of policy science. The four-phase change of scientific paradigm defined
by Kuhn (2012) for physics has also been observed in other disciplines (Bauer, 2008;Golinelli
et al., 2012), implying the inevitability of the parallel diversity in theory development within
science or among sciences, but Kuhn didn’t directly analyze the formation of the
nonsynchronism itself. How does the theoretical structure of a science form and evolve?
And what factors motivate the flow and diffusion of theoretical knowledge across
disciplines? This fundamental question has been neglected for a long time. Answering these
questions not only can help to understand the formation and evolution of the human
knowledge system but also can help to find ways to promote knowledge sharing among
different research areas within a science, different sciences, or different countries and
regions. To this end, this study is to explore the microscopic mechanism of the formation of
nonsynchronism in theoretical research from the perspective of individual scholars.
As pointed out in the famous Five Laws of Library Science that “books are for all”
(Ranganathan, 1931) and “libraries serve humanity” (Crawford and Gormanm, 1995), IS is
supposed to be a social science committed to protecting people’s right to access to knowledge.
Considering IS’s pursuit of improving human information welfare, the nonsynchronism in
theoretical knowledge creation within it concerns the ability of a society to provide high-
quality information services. In this sense, IS can be taken as a typical discipline for
JD
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