Dr. Jacqueline You
Associate Professor in Management DPhil., FHEA., MLitt (Dist)., PGDip., PGCert., BBA (Hons)

Profile

Biography

Associate Professor in Management 

Research Focus: Responsible and Resilient Ecosystems

Dr Jacqueline You is an Associate Professor in Management at the University of York. Her research examines how organisations, regional systems and cross-sector ecosystems build capabilities for resilience, responsibility and sustainable transformation.

Jacqueline’s research is international in scope, with academic and practice-based collaborations across China, the United States, Europe and selected emerging-economy contexts. She works with organisations across sectors to develop evidence-based frameworks that strengthen resilience, sustainable innovation and long-term value creation.

She has led and contributed to UKRI-funded projects on organisational resilience, finance and biodiversity, nature-positive investment, responsible business accreditation and the strategic capabilities required for organisational and societal transformation. Her research has also been recognised through the British Academy Global Talent scheme. She uses systems-oriented and collaborative methodologies, including Fuzzy Cognitive Mapping, systems modelling and stakeholder co-production.

Jacqueline is actively involved in national and international scholarly communities. She serves as a Representative-at-Large at the Strategic Management Society, is a member of the ESRC Peer Review College, and is a member of the European Academy of Management, the Academy of Management, the Academy of International Business and the Society for the Advancement of Socio-Economics. Her contributions to scholarly peer review have also been recognised through several Best Reviewer Awards. 

She holds a PhD in Management from Durham University Business School, where her doctoral research informed the development of the ESRC-funded project Towards a Theory of Resilient Ecosystems: A System Approach to Organisational Resilience. She also holds degrees from the University of St Andrews, awarded with Distinction, and the University of Shanghai for Science and Technology, where she received the Shanghai Outstanding Graduate Award. Her earlier professional experience in multinational corporations and start-up enterprises across international contexts enables her to connect rigorous academic research with real-world challenges in resilience, responsible business, sustainable innovation and organisational transformation.

Research

Overview

Responsible and Resilient Ecosystems

Jacqueline’s research sits at the intersection of strategy, responsible business, sustainability transitions and systems thinking. She examines how organisations, regional systems and cross-sector ecosystems build capabilities for resilience, responsibility and sustainable transformation. In her work, ecosystems refer to interconnected organisational, regional, social–ecological and institutional systems through which diverse actors coordinate, adapt and create value.

Her research advances a capability-based and ecosystem-oriented perspective on organisational resilience. Moving beyond recovery from disruption, she explores how organisations and their wider networks adapt, renew practices and create sustainable forms of value under conditions of ecological, technological, social and institutional change.

Her interdisciplinary research agenda is organised around three core themes.

Responsible and relational capabilities for resilient ecosystems

This theme examines how organisations develop collaborative, ethical and stakeholder-oriented capabilities that strengthen resilience across interdependent networks. It gives particular attention to trust-building, inter-organisational relationships, institutional responsiveness and shared governance as foundations for resilient ecosystems. Rather than viewing resilience as an attribute of individual organisations alone, this research highlights the relational and systemic dimensions of resilience across networks and institutional environments.

Social–ecological capabilities for regenerative sustainability transitions

Drawing on the Natural-Resource-Based View and social–ecological systems perspectives, this theme examines how organisations and ecosystems develop capabilities that support regenerative responses to environmental and societal challenges. The emphasis is on building adaptive systems that contribute not only to organisational continuity, but also to ecological resilience, community wellbeing and long-term societal value.

Responsible entrepreneurship, social innovation and regional resilience

This theme examines how responsible business practices, entrepreneurship, innovation ecosystems and collaborative regional networks contribute to inclusive and resilient development. It considers how regional actors create social and economic value while supporting institutional renewal and strengthening local systems.

Methodologically, Jacqueline uses collaborative, systems-oriented mixed methods, including Fuzzy Cognitive Mapping, systems modelling, stakeholder interviews and multi-stakeholder co-production, to map causal relationships, identify resilience dynamics and generate actionable insights.

Across these areas, Dr You’s research contributes to contemporary debates in management, sustainability and regional studies by showing how resilience is not only built within organisations, but enacted through relationships, capabilities and ecosystems. Her work offers an interdisciplinary framework for understanding how responsible and regenerative forms of organising can shape more resilient futures.

Projects

• Principal Investigator — Towards a Theory of Resilient Ecosystems: A System Approach to Organisational Resilience
  ESRC, UKRI, ES/W005611/1
• Co-Investigator — Integrating Finance and Biodiversity for a Nature-Positive Future: Phase 2
  NERC, UKRI, NE/Z503368/1
• Co-Investigator — Nature-Positive Investment Opportunities through Solar Parks: Phase I
  NERC, UKRI, NE/X016242/1
• Principal Investigator — Collaboration with the Good Business Charter
  HEIF PVC KE Fund, H0023935
• Principal Organiser — Exploring the Benefits of the Good Business Charter for Resilience and Sustainability, ESRC Festival of Social Science, supported by the ESRC Impact Acceleration Account, ES/X00435X/1
• Principal Organiser — Business, Conflict and Peacebuilding
  SASE Conference mini-conference, supported by the School for Business and Society Research Fund
• Project Lead and Academic Mentor –– Social Enterprises as Peacebuilding Mechanisms
  York Peace Lab Internship Fund

Supervision

Jacqueline welcomes PhD applications from forward-thinking students interested in strategy, sustainability transitions, and systems thinking.

Key research areas include:

• Organisational & regional resilience
• Responsible business, entrepreneurship & social innovation
• Biodiversity and corporate strategy

She is particularly keen to supervise projects that explore resilience not just as an attribute of isolated companies, but as a relational, capability-based, and ecosystem-level process.

Publications

Selected publications

You, J. J., Hudson, P., White, P. C., Harrison, L. J., Armstrong, A., Treasure, L. and Lee, H. K. (2026). ‘Biodiversity as a Social–Ecological Capability: Extending the Natural Resource-Based View in Renewable Energy Systems’. Business Strategy and the Environment. https://doi.org/10.1002/bse.70524

Williams, C., You, J. J. and Spielmann, N. (2024). ‘The Effect of Breadth of External Pressure on Leaders in Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises: Does the Firm Become More Entrepreneurial?’ International Journal of Entrepreneurial Behavior & Research. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJEBR-08-2022-0712

You, J. J. and Williams, C. (2023). ‘Organizational Resilience and Inter-Organizational Relationships: An Exploration of Chinese Business-Service Firms’. European Management Review, 1–19.  https://doi.org/10.1111/emre.12558

Nakpodia, F., Ashiru, F., You, J. J. and Oni, O. (2023). ‘Digital Technologies, Social Entrepreneurship and Resilience during Crisis in Developing Countries: Evidence from Nigeria’. International Journal of Entrepreneurial Behavior & Research. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJEBR-01-2023-0012

Ashiru, F., Nakpodia, F. and You, J. J. (2022). ‘Adapting Emerging Digital Communication Technologies for Resilience: Evidence from Nigerian SMEs’. Annals of Operations Research. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10479-022-05049-9

You, J. J. (2022). ‘A “Sensitising” Perspective on Understanding Students’ Learning Experiences in Case Studies’. The International Journal of Management Education, 20(2), 1–13. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijme.2022.100615

Dilyard, J., Zhao, S. and You, J. J. (2021). ‘Digital Technology and Industry 4.0 for Global Value Chain Resilience: Lessons Learned and Ways Forward’. Thunderbird International Business Review, 63, 577–584. https://doi.org/10.1002/tie.22229

Takeshita, S., Lee, S. H., Williams, C. and You, J. J. (2021). ‘Crisis, Rigidity and Nonliberal Governance in Japan: The Cases of Mitsubishi Motors and Kanebo’. Continuity & Resilience Review, 3(3), 209–231. https://doi.org/10.1108/CRR-10-2020-0032

Williams, C., You, J. J. and Joshua, K. (2020). ‘Small Business Resilience in a Remote Tourist Destination: Exploring Close Relationship Capabilities on the Island of St Helena’. Journal of Sustainable Tourism, 28(7), 937–955. https://doi.org/10.1080/09669582.2020.1712409

Books and book chapters

Williams, C. and You, J. J. (2021). Organizing for Resilience: Leading and Managing Risk in a Disruptive World. Abingdon: Routledge.

You, J. J. (2022). ‘Designing and Implementing Ecological Models in Organisation Studies: Fuzzy Cognitive Mapping Approach’. In M. C. Vu, N. Singh, N. Burton and I. Chu (eds), Faith Traditions and Practices in the Workplace Volume II. London: Palgrave Macmillan, 159–178.

You, J. J., Vu, M. C. and Williams, C. (2021). ‘Building Skillful Resilience Amid Uncertainty’. In S. H. Park, M. A. Gonzalez-Perez and D. E. Floriani (eds), The Palgrave Handbook of Corporate Sustainability in the Digital Era. London: Palgrave Macmillan, 379–395.

Research reports and practitioner outputs

You, J. J., Pleace, N., Doherty, B., Lambert, P. and Li, S. (2024). Tracking Success for the Good Business Charter: Developing an Effective Approach. University of York. https://doi.org/10.15124/yao-1yqr-xh97

Treasure, L., Harrison, L. J., Hudson, P., You, J. J., Hawkins, D., Grier, R., Lee, H. K., Armstrong, A. and White, P. C. L. (2024). Nature Positive Solar Investment: Industry Guidance. London: NextEnergy Capital and University of York. https://doi.org/10.15124/yao-2h6k-5c26

You, J. J. (2023). ‘An Overview of Organizational Resilience in Research and Strategy: Implications for the Future of Work’. AIB Insights. https://doi.org/10.46697/001c.77387

Williams, C., Conner, N. and You, J. J. (2021). ‘Management Consultancy: The Power to Unleash Natural Capital Thinking’. Management Consulting Journal, 7, 14–17.

Williams, C. and You, J. J. (2018). ‘Building Resilience in Client Organisations: The Consultant’s Challenge’. Management Consulting Journal, 2, 10–12.

Media and public engagement 

• The Science Matters –– Biodiversity Reshapes Renewable Energy Strategy

• School for Business and Society –– A New Nature Playbook: Business Strategy and the Environment

• The Good Business Charter –– Tracking the Success of the Good Business Charter

• University of York –– Ethical Business Practice Can be the Key to Success

• The York Press ––  University of York report boosts Good Business Charter

• Nature-Positive Investment Events –– Finance & Investment in Nature Positive Energy

• ESRC Festival of Social Science –– Sustainable Futures Forum: Building for Good

• Sustainable Futures Forum –– Responsible Business |Business and Nature| Sustainable Supply Chains 
  

Teaching

Postgraduate

• Leading and Managing Organisational Change (MBA)
• Global Business Strategy (PG)
• Independent Research Project (PG)