Patricia H. Thornton (born 1960s) is an American organizational theorist, and Grand Challenge Initiative Professor of Sociology and Entrepreneurship at

Texas A&M University Texas A&M University (Texas A&M, A&M, or TAMU) is a public, land-grant, research university in College Station, Texas. It was founded in 1876 and became the flagship institution of the Texas A&M University System in 1948. As of late 2021, T ...

as well as Adjunct Associate Professor of Business Administration at the

Fuqua School of Business The Fuqua School of Business (pronounced ) is the business school of Duke University in Durham, North Carolina. It enrolls more than 1,300 students in degree-seeking programs. Duke Executive Education also offers non-degree business education a ...

at Duke University. She is known for her work on "the sociology of entrepreneurship" and "the Institutional Logics Perspective."

Life and work

Thornton obtained her PhD in Sociology in 1993 at Stanford University. Her committee was

W. Richard Scott William Richard Scott (born December 18, 1932) is an American sociologist, and Emeritus Professor at Stanford University, specialised in institutional theory and organisation science. He is known for his research on the relation between organi ...

, John Meyer,

Jeffrey Pfeffer Jeffrey Pfeffer (born July 23, 1946, St. Louis, Missouri) is an American business theorist and the Thomas D. Dee II Professor of Organizational Behavior at the Graduate School of Business, Stanford University, and is considered one of today's m ...

, and Nancy Tuma, and her dissertation was "Acquisition Growth of College Publishing, 1958-1990." One of her first publications to come out of her dissertation research was "The problem of boundaries in contemporary research on organizations," co-authored with Nancy Tuma and which won the best paper award from the Organization and Management Theory Division of the

Academy of Management The Academy of Management is a professional association for scholars of management and organizations that was established in 1936. It publishes several academic journals, organizes conferences, and provides others forums for management professors ...

. After graduation Thornton was visiting scholar in Organizational Behavior at

INSEAD INSEAD, a contraction of "Institut Européen d'Administration des Affaires" () is a non-profit business school that maintains campuses in Europe ( Fontainebleau, France), Asia (Singapore), the Middle East ( Abu Dhabi, UAE), and North America (Sa ...

, and visiting scholar in Management Science and Engineering at Stanford University. At Duke University Fuqua School of Business she is appointed adjunct professor and is affiliated with its Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation. She was also visiting associate professor at Stanford University's Department of Sociology. In 2015 Thornton became Grand Challenge Initiative Professor of Sociology and Entrepreneurship at

where she currently teaches "The Social Science of Entrepreneurship." Thornton's research interests are in the fields of "organization theory, innovation and entrepreneurship, and the social and cultural factors promoting entrepreneurship... pecificallyin developing the Action Learning Approach for teaching entrepreneurship using live business plans, entrepreneurs, and investors."

Selected publications

* Thornton, Patricia H., William Ocasio, and Michael Lounsbury. ''The institutional logics perspective: A new approach to culture, structure, and process.'' Oxford University Press, 2012. Articles, a selection: * Thornton, Patricia H.
The sociology of entrepreneurship
" Annual Review of Sociology (1999): 19–46. * Thornton, Patricia H., and William Ocasio.
Institutional logics and the historical contingency of power in organizations: Executive succession in the higher education publishing industry, 1958-1990 1
" ''American journal of Sociology'' 105.3 (1999): 801–843. * Thornton, Patricia H., and William Ocasio.
Institutional logics
" The Sage handbook of organizational institutionalism 840 (2008): 99-128.

References

External links

Patricia H. Thornton
{{DEFAULTSORT:Thornton, Patricia H. 1960s births Living people American business theorists American sociologists American women sociologists Stanford University alumni Duke University faculty 21st-century American women