Gate-and-Expand: Enhancing Credible Evolution in Indigenous Management Theories
针对本土管理理论扩展中常出现的意义漂移和机制滑脱问题，提出门控与扩展框架，通过两个检查点评估构念和机制的可信扩展，帮助区分可信的理论延伸与过度扩张。
Abstract Indigenous management theories often seek to evolve from context-specific explanations to broader theoretical contributions. Yet such expansion is frequently undermined by two recurring problems: meaning drift, where construct labels travel while their underlying meaning or measurement shifts, and mechanism slippage, where theories are stretched through post hoc moderators or rotating mediators rather than coherent causal explanations. This paper introduces a Gate-and-Expand framework that builds on Chen’s (2025) theory-evolution map and specifies two checkpoints for credible theoretical expansion. Gate 1 (Construct Portability) evaluates whether a focal construct retains comparable latent meaning and measurement across contexts. Gate 2 (Mechanism Transportability) examines whether a compact, pre-specified causal mechanism continues to explain outcomes and outperforms plausible rival explanations when the theory is extended. By clarifying evidentiary standards for expanding contextual and explanatory scope, the framework helps distinguish credible theoretical extension from overreach and supports more cumulative indigenous management research.