Abstract
Craig’s constitutive metamodel offers significant insights for engaging the institutionalized communication that shapes the field of communication theory. However, these insights are overlooked in the ongoing debate about the metamodel’s merits. Critics have mainly concentrated on evaluating the descriptive adequacy of the metamodel. This attention has so far neglected a pertinent discussion on how the academic field organizes itself through its institutionalized communication practices, such as those within higher education and professional academic settings. This essay addresses this gap by reconstructing the communication design theory inherent in Craig’s constitutive metamodel and, from his responses to the critics, three plausible design principles are articulated about handling truth, constitutivity, and intervention. By highlighting the design thinking and principles suggested by the metamodel, the essay opens pertinent themes for critical, constructive reflection about the (re)design of institutionalized communicative practices within the field of communication theory that are consequential for the trajectory of communication theory.