Dr Sabrina Thornton
PhD, MRes, MSc, BA
Management School
Senior Lecturer in Marketing
Full contact details
Management School
Sheffield University Management School
Conduit Road
Sheffield
S10 1FL
- Profile
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Dr Sabrina Thornton joined Sheffield University Management School in June 2021, after eight years at Huddersfield Business School where she was Senior Lecturer in Marketing and Director of the MBA. Her leadership roles at Sheffield include Director of the Sheffield MBA (2021–2025) and Academic Line Manager (2025–present). Before entering academia, she worked with a leading global marketing consultancy, an experience that continues to shape her applied and impact-driven approach to research and teaching.
Her research focuses on business-to-business marketing, with particular emphasis on inter-organisational relationships and networks, and their role in fostering innovation and sustainable value creation. She has published in leading journals, including the Journal of Product Innovation Management, International Journal of Operations & Production Management, Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Management & Organization Review, Industrial Marketing Management, and the Journal of Business Research.
Dr Thornton has collaborated with organisations across the sports, retail, and manufacturing sectors, translating academic insight into strategies that strengthen partnerships, enhance innovation, and improve organisational performance.
- Qualifications
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- PhD in Business and Management - Manchester Business School
- MRes in Management and Business Research - Manchester Business School
- MSc in Fashion Marketing - Fu Jen University (Taiwan)
- BA in Marketing and Distribution Management - National Kaohsiung First University (Taiwan)
- Diploma in Industrial Engineering and Management - Cheng Shiu University (Taiwan)
- Research interests
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Dr Thornton’s research is interdisciplinary, bridging marketing, strategy, and innovation. She investigates how organisations build and manage inter-organisational relationships and networks to foster innovation and sustainable value creation in dynamic business environments. Her work examines how firms leverage relational and network capabilities to collaborate effectively, adapt strategically, and co-create value across organisational boundaries.
Her research comprises two complementary strands:Substantive focus: strategic business networks, inter-organisational collaboration, and innovation in a networked context, with emphasis on how relational dynamics and network structures contribute to sustainability and long-term competitiveness.
Methodological focus: applications of Qualitative Comparative Analysis (QCA) within a configurational theoretical framework to identify complex causal patterns and configurations across organisational settings.
Key areas of interest include:
Inter-organisational networks
Business relationships and strategic collaboration
Innovation and sustainable value creation in a network context
Qualitative Comparative Analysis (QCA)
- Publications
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Journal articles
- When can cultural intelligence be effective for expatriate cross-cultural work adjustment?—a configurational approach. The International Journal of Human Resource Management, 36(8), 1309-1339. View this article in WRRO
- Capability configurations for successful advanced servitization. International Journal of Operations & Production Management, 45(2). View this article in WRRO
- Implementing customer relationship management successfully: a configurational perspective. Technological Forecasting and Social Change, 199. View this article in WRRO
- How knowledge services clustered firms leverage different channels of local knowledge spillovers for service innovation. Management and Organization Review, 18(6), 1116-1138. View this article in WRRO
- Editorial: Qualitative research in business marketing management. Industrial Marketing Management, 98, A1-A9.
- Configuring effective client-adviser interactions. Journal of Business Research, 115, 234-240.
- B2B analytics in the airline market: Harnessing the power of consumer big data. Industrial Marketing Management, 86, 52-64.
- It’s in the Mix: How Firms Configure Resource Mobilization for New Product Success. Journal of Product Innovation Management, 36(4), 513-531.
- Spotlight on customization: An analysis of necessity and sufficiency in services. Journal of Business Research, 89, 385-390.
- Net versus combinatory effects of firm and industry antecedents of sales growth. Journal of Business Research, 69(9), 3576-3583.
- An empirical investigation of network-oriented behaviors in business-to-business markets. Industrial Marketing Management, 49, 167-180.
- Conceptualizing and validating organizational networking as a second-order formative construct. Industrial Marketing Management, 43(6), 951-966.
- Understanding types of organizational networking behaviors in the UK manufacturing sector. Industrial Marketing Management, 42(7), 1154-1166.
Book chapters
- Differentiating the Indifferent: Dealing with Commoditization Paradox Through Innovation, Management for Professionals (pp. 265-279). Springer International Publishing
Conference proceedings
- A CONFIGURATIONAL PERSPECTIVE ON VENTURE CAPITAL INVESTMENTS. Global marketing conference proceeding (pp 239-239)
- PRICE ASSESSMENT IN BUSINESS RELATIONSHIPS: AN ANALYSIS OF NET AND COMBINATORY EFFECTS OF RELATIONSHIP ATTRIBUTES. Global marketing conference proceeding (pp 909-920)
- NETWORK-ORIENTED BEHAVIORS IN BUSINESS-TO-BUSINESS MARKETS: AN EMPIRICAL STUDY. Global Marketing Conference Proceeding (pp 1232-1232)
- When can cultural intelligence be effective for expatriate cross-cultural work adjustment?—a configurational approach. The International Journal of Human Resource Management, 36(8), 1309-1339. View this article in WRRO
- Research group
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Behavioural Research for Inclusivity, Sustainability and Technological Transformation (BRISTT)
- Grants
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PI, British Academy/Leverhulme Small Research Grant: When and How Does Going Beyond Direct Customers Facilitate Innovation Success?, 2019-2023
- Teaching interests
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Dr Thornton is an experienced educator in strategic marketing, marketing research, and research methods. Her teaching is informed by her interdisciplinary research and prior professional experience with a global consultancy firm, enabling her to integrate theory with real-world practice.
She is passionate about creating an engaging and intellectually stimulating learning environment, encouraging students to think critically, reflectively, and creatively. Her teaching is enriched by research-led content and interactive pedagogy designed to help students realise their potential and achieve excellence in their future careers.
She actively incorporates contemporary debates on sustainability and social responsibility within both local and global contexts, and views teaching as a collaborative and reflective process, continuously refined through student feedback and dialogue.
- Teaching activities
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Sabrina leads the following modules:
- MGT6228: Marketing Consultancy Challenge
She is part of the teaching team in the following modules:
- MGT6045 Marketing
- MGT6125 Cultural Marketing
- Professional activities and memberships
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Sabrina serves as an editorial board member of Industrial Marketing Management and has reviewed for leading journals in her field.
- PhD Supervision
Sabrina would welcome enquiries from prospective postgraduate students, particularly in the following subject and methodological areas:
Subject focus
- Inter-organisational networks and strategic business relationships
- Collaborative innovation and knowledge exchange across organisational boundaries
- Sustainable value creation through networked business systems
- Strategic and relational drivers of competitiveness in business-to-business contexts
Methodological focus
- Applications of Qualitative Comparative Analysis (QCA)
- Applications of Social Network Analysis
- Applications of Statistical Modelling
Are you interested in applying for a PhD?