Viswanath VENKATESH Pamplin College of Business,Virginia Tech
Wednesday, December 16, 202610:00 – 12:00Room 327 – Lascrosses Building
Current contextualization scripts have pushed for a more central role for context in theory development. Despite advances in our understanding of phenomena around the world through research in less widely represented areas, the lament of the lack of context in research has grown louder.
This presentation will discuss a viewpoint that we need to move beyond contextualization approaches to embrace indigenous theory development that focuses on local ideologies, values, beliefs, and language.
Venkatesh builds on his recent work on guidelines for contextualization to propose a set of guidelines for developing indigenous theory.
Viswanath VENKATESH who completed his PhD at the University of Minnesota, is an Eminent Scholar and Verizon Chair at the Pamplin College of Business, Virginia Tech.
From 2021-’24, he also served as the Director of Pamplin’s Executive PhD program. He is widely regarded as one of the most influential scientists, both in terms of premier journal publications and citation impact (e.g., Clarivate’s Highly Cited Researcher, Thomson Reuters’ highlycited.com, Emerald Citations, SSRN, PLoS Biology), with a recent career ranking of 295th (out of ~9 million scientists in all scientific fields) and 1st in information systems.
His 2024 citation impact ranking was 45th (out of ~9 million scientists in all scientific fields). His research focuses on understanding the diffusion of technologies in organizations and society. His most impactful project focuses on improving the quality of life for the poorest of the poor in India, which he has presented at various forums, including the United Nations.
The sponsorship of his research has been about US$10M. His work has appeared in leading journals in human-computer interaction, information systems, organizational behavior, psychology, marketing, medical informatics, and operations management, and has received best paper awards (e.g., the Academy of Management Journal).
His works have been cited over 260,000 times (Google Scholar) and over 80,000 times (Web of Science), with an h-index over 100 and an i-10 index around 175, and 26 papers cited over 1,000 times on Google Scholar. He developed and maintains an IS research rankings website that has received many accolades from the academic community, including the Association for Information Systems’ Technology Legacy Award. He has served in editorial roles in various journals. He is a Fellow of the AIS and the Information Systems Society, INFORMS.