This article presents a provisional grounded theory of conceptual development for applied theory-building research. The theory described here extends the understanding of the components of conceptual development and provides generalized relations among the components. The conceptual development phase of theory-building research has been widely debated and discussed in a variety of disciplines, most notably in sociology and management theory. The breadth and number of these contributions makes it difficult for many human resource development (HRD) theorists to select the most appropriate process or framework to follow, and guidelines or a framework are needed to further the development of HRD theory. This grounded study contributes toward that gap. The study found that a five-component framework of conceptual development emerged from creating an HRD theory on human capital transformation.