Staff profile

Zsófia joined DUBS as Associate Professor in Marketing in September 2021. Her research focuses on business networks, the building and development of interorganisational relationships, and how firms manage innovation, tensions, and organisational attractiveness in networks. She is also interested in novel methodologies such as fuzzy set Qualitative Comparative Analysis, Necessary Condition Analysis and Social Network Analysis. Her PhD was on organisational attractiveness in networks that she completed in 2015 at the Manchester Business School (now Alliance Manchester Business School), University of Manchester. She graduated at Corvinus University in 2009 (MSc with distinction with majors in 1) Business and Management and 2) Communications) as well as at Lóránd Eötvös University in 2011 (BA in Philology with Specialisation in Art History), Budapest, Hungary. Prior to becoming an academic, she worked in market research (in Hungary), for NGOs (in Hungary and Austria) and branding (in Switzerland). Prior to joining Durham, she worked at the Nottingham University Business School, University of Nottingham as Assistant Professor in Marketing between 2015-2021, where she taught (among some other subjects) Business-to-Business Marketing for MSc, PhD and MBA students in the UK and on the Singapore MBA programme of Nottingham University both in-person and online. From 2019 she holds Fellowship in the Higher Education Academy. During her time at Nottingham, she was awarded with ESRC Impact Accelerator Funding, a British Academy Small Grant and funding from the Digitally Advanced Services (DEAS+) group. As part of her funded work, she led a research team to support the digital innovation of the charity Relate (Nottinghamshire) to accommodate to the changed circumstances of the Coronavirus pandemic. Also, she has been active in impact creation with local small- and medium-sized firms in the Midlands, especially in the field of organisational attractiveness in networks, including digital presence. She had NDAs with large organisations too, such as in aerospace and the automotive industries. She is a visiting academic at Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University, the Netherlands. She serves on the editorial and review boards of Industrial Marketing Management (IMM) and the Journal of Business Research (JBR). She received Distinguished Reviewer Award from JBR in 2016 and together with her co-authors Best Paper Award at the Spring Servitization Conference in 2020 for the study on managing tensions in digital servitization. She completed her Diploma in Coaching at the University of Cambridge in 2021 and became Member of the Association for Coaching (MAC).

Mini-Biography

Zsófia is an Associate Professor in Marketing with research interests in buyer-supplier relationships and business networks. She has taught at Undergraduate, MSc, MBA and PhD levels and holds Fellowship in the Higher Education Academy. She enjoys combining theoretical insights, novel methodologies and practitioner challenges for the creation of academic and managerial/societal impact.

• Networks
• Buyer-supplier relationships
• Innovation
• Buyer/supplier attractiveness
• Tensions
• Digital business-to-business marketing
• Methodologies

Chapter in book

• Dul, J., Hauff, S., & Tóth, Z. (2021). Necessary condition analysis in marketing research. In R. Nunkoo, V. Teeroovengadum, & C. Ringle. (Eds.), Handbook of Research Methods for Marketing Management (51-72). Elgar Publishing. https://doi.org/10.4337/9781788976954.00008
• Lee, W., Dul, J., & Tóth, Z. (2020). Application of Necessary Condition Analysis (NCA) in hospitality and tourism research. In R. E. al (Ed.), Contemporary Research Methodology for Hospitality and Tourism. Emerald, London
• Dul, J., Hauff, S., & Tóth, Z. (2019). Necessary Condition Analysis in marketing research. In N. E. al (Ed.), Handbook of Research Methods for Marketing Management. Elgar, London

Journal Article

• Omari, D., Scott, S. A., Tóth, Z., & Tsinopoulos, C. (online). The SME R&D intensity and product innovation relationship: the mediating role of quality management in the context of a developing country. R&D Management, https://doi.org/10.1111/radm.12721
• Mrad, M., Ramadan, Z., Tóth, Z., Nasr, L., & Karimi, S. (online). Virtual Influencers Versus Real Connections: Exploring the Phenomenon of Virtual Influencers. Journal of Advertising, https://doi.org/10.1080/00913367.2024.2393711
• Wünderlich, N., Blut, M., Brock, C., Heirati, N., Jensen, M., Paluch, S., Rötzmeier-Keuper, J., & Tóth, Z. (2025). How to Use Emerging Service Technologies to Enhance Customer Centricity in Business-to-Business Contexts: A Conceptual Framework and Research Agenda. Journal of Business Research, 192, Article 115284. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2025.115284
• Wirths, O., Tóth, Z., & Diaz Ruiz, C. A. (2024). Adversarial Service Networks: A Study of Service Firms’ Response to Manufacturer-led Servitization in Aviation. Industrial Marketing Management, 119, 162-177. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.indmarman.2024.04.004
• Tóth, Z., & Blut, M. (2024). Ethical compass: The need for Corporate Digital Responsibility in the use of Artificial Intelligence in financial services. Organizational Dynamics, 53(2), Article 101041. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.orgdyn.2024.101041
• Tóth, Z., Mrad, M., Itani, O., Luo, M. (., & Liu, M. J. (2022). B2B eWOM creation on Alibaba: Signaling through online reviews in platform-based social exchange  . Industrial Marketing Management, 104, 226-240. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.indmarman.2022.04.019
• Tóth, Z., Caruana, R., Gruber, T., & Loebbecke, C. (2022). The Dawn of the AI Robots: Towards a New Framework of AI Robot Accountability. Journal of Business Ethics, 178(4), 895-916. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-022-05050-z
• Tóth, Z., Nemkova, E., Hizsák, G., & Naudé, P. (2022). Social capital creation on professional sharing economy platforms: The problems of rating dependency and the non-transferability of social capital. Journal of Business Research, 144, 450-460. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2022.01.090
• Tóth, Z., Biggemann, S., & Williams, M. (2022). Unintentionality in market shaping – A multiple case study of touring exhibitions from New Zealand, Australia, and the United Kingdom. Industrial Marketing Management, 103, 117-129. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.indmarman.2022.03.012
• Tóth, Z., Sklyar, A., Kowalkowski, C., Sörhammar, D., Tronvoll, B., & Wirths, O. (2022). Tensions in Digital Servitization through a Paradox Lens. Industrial Marketing Management, 102, 438-450. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.indmarman.2022.02.010
• Mrad, M., Karimi, S., Tóth, Z., & Christodoulides, G. (2022). Elite Luxury Experiences: Customer and Managerial Perspectives. Journal of Marketing Management, 38(13-14), 1339-1368. https://doi.org/10.1080/0267257x.2022.2078860
• Ogundipe, S., Peters, L., & Tóth, Z. (2022). Interfirm Problem Representation: Developing Shared Understanding within Inter-Organizational Networks. Industrial Marketing Management, 100, 76-87. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.indmarman.2021.11.004
• Luo, J., Tóth, Z., Liu, M., & Yuan, R. (2021). Social media-related tensions on business-to-business markets - Evidence from China. Industrial Marketing Management, 93, 293-306. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.indmarman.2020.12.015
• Tóth, Z., Henneberg, S., Naudé, P., & Ruiz, C. (2021). The strategic role of corporate online references: building social capital through signaling in business networks. Journal of Business & Industrial Marketing, 36(8), 1300-1321. https://doi.org/10.1108/JBIM-02-2020-0101
• Martin, W., Sergio, B., & Zsófia, T. (2020). Value creation in art galleries: A service logic analysis. Australasian Marketing Journal, 28(1), 47-56. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ausmj.2019.08.002
• Tóth, Z., Liu, M., Luo, J., & Braziotis, C. (2020). The role of social media in managing supplier attractiveness An investigation of business-to-business markets. International Journal of Operations & Production Management, 40(5, SI), 625-646. https://doi.org/10.1108/ijopm-04-2019-0321
• Tóth, Z., Nieroda, M., & Koles, B. (2020). Becoming a more attractive supplier by managing references - The case of small and medium-sized enterprises in a digitally enhanced business environment. Industrial Marketing Management, 84, 312-327. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.indmarman.2019.07.010
• Baumers, M., Ashcroft, I., Benford, S., Flintham, M., Koleva, B., Tóth, Z., & Winklhofer, H. (2020). A framework for differentiation in composed digital-physical products. International Journal of Mechatronics and Manufacturing Systems, 13(4), 286-298. https://doi.org/10.1504/IJMMS.2020.112351
• Tóth, Z., Dul, J., & Li, C. (2019). Necessary condition analysis in tourism research. Annals of Tourism Research, 79, Article 102821. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.annals.2019.102821
• Tóth, Z., Peters, L., Pressey, A., & Johnston, W. (2018). Tension in a value co-creation context: A network case study. Industrial Marketing Management, 70(SI), 34-45. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.indmarman.2017.08.015
• Tóth, Z., Henneberg, S., & Naude, P. (2017). Addressing the `Qualitative' in fuzzy set Qualitative Comparative Analysis: The Generic Membership Evaluation Template. Industrial Marketing Management, 63, 192-204. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.indmarman.2016.10.008
• Tóth, Z., Thiesbrummel, C., Henneberg, S., & Naude, P. (2015). Understanding configurations of relational attractiveness of the customer firm using fuzzy set QCA. Journal of Business Research, 68(3), 723-734. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2014.07.010