Professor Mark NK Saunders

Mark NK Saunders is Professor of Business Research Methods and Director of Global Engagement at Birmingham Business School. 

His research interests include:

• Research methods, in particular participants selection, methods for understanding organizational relationships;
• Trust and human resource aspects of the management of change, in particular trust within and between organizations and organizational learning;
• Small and medium sized enterprise (SME) success. 

 Mark’s work has been recognised by a number awards including a Fellowship of the Academy of Social Sciences in recognition of contribution to methods and human resource management research and social science researcher development; the British Academy of Management Medal for Leadership in recognition of his contribution to capacity building and a Fellowship of the British academy of Management. In 2021 his textbook Research Methods for Business Students was ranked the World’s most influential business and economics textbook by the “FT (Financial Times) Teaching Power” league table. He is a founding panel member and fellow of the British Academy of management’s Peer Review College. He holds visiting professorships at Birkbeck, University of London and the Universities of Surrey and Worcester.  

Mark’s research has been published widely in journals including Annals of Tourism Research, British Journal of Management, Field Methods, Human Relations, Human Resource Management Journal, Journal of Personnel Psychology, Journal of Small Business Management, Management Learning and Social Science and Medicine. He is consulting editor for the International Journal of Management Reviews and European Editor for the Services Industries Journal. He is a steering group member of the First International Network on Trust (FINT).

Mark has co-authored and edited a range of books including Research Methods for Business Students (currently in its eighth edition), How to keep your research project on track: Insights from when things go wrong, Doing Research in Business and Management (currently in its second edition), Conducting Case Studies for Business and Management, Organizational Trust: a Cultural Perspective, Handbook of Research Methods on Trust (currently in its second edition) and Handbook of Research Methods on Human Resource Development. He is joint editor of Sage’s Understanding Research Methods for Business and Management Students book series and editor of Edward Elgar’s Handbooks of Research Methods series.