子谦译文｜创业教什么：六种主流创业理论的对比研究(7)

Literature review文献综述
2.1 Descriptive and prescriptive theories of action
行动的描述性和规范型理论
Action theories can be divided into two different types: descriptive and prescriptive (Tsang 1997). Descriptive theories are often highly empirical and describe how individuals think and act in different situations. They frequently outline logical consequences, such as “under condition C, following action A leads to outcome O”(Parsons et al. 1965). By providing such propositions, they allow for predictingthe outcome ofspecificactions when particular conditions are in place. Descriptive theories are judged by their empirical validity, that is, the extent to which they are consistent with the observed behavior (Bell et al. 1988; Tietz 1992).
行动理论可以分为两种不同的类型：描述性的和说明性的。描述性理论通常是高度经验主义的，描述个人在不同的情况下如何思考和行动。他们经常概述逻辑结果，比如“在条件C下，若采用A方案，就会导致结果O”。通过提供这样的命题，它们允许在特定条件出现时预测特定行动的结果。描述性理论是依据其经验的有效性来判断的，即它们与所观察到的行为在多大程度上是一致的。
Prescriptive theories help people decide what to do and how to think in a particular context (Cross and Sproull 2004). A key feature of prescriptive theories is that they are intended to influence and change the behavior of actual people (Bell et al. 1988; March and Smith 1995). Therefore, they often include propositions such as ”inorder to arriveat outcome O under condition C, do action A” intended to improve the quality of human judgment and decision-making. Prescriptive theories are often appreciated for their pragmatic value, in that they help individuals to excel in practice (Bell et al.1988; Tietz 1992). While descriptive theories come in the passive form of “if …