Prof. Dr. Sabrina Schork’s current research focuses on identifying and empowering sustainable innovators. Primary and secondary data are analysed using qualitative and quantitative methods. Professor Schork has supervised one Bachelor’s and six Master’s theses. She has also carried out an external assessment for a doctoral degree and is currently supervising three external doctoral projects.
Google Scholar Profile / ORCID: 0000-0002-9725-6429
Editor
The book is aimed at university lecturers who want to understand and teach future skills. The aim is to provide a precise definition of these skills, derived from established frameworks that describe future skills as essential for a changing world. It highlights the tasks of universities and the different perspectives of lecturers and students. Projects at various universities offer insights into the practical challenges and findings. An indispensable guide for actively shaping teaching and university development.
The present volume marks an initial step towards a comprehensive discussion of the topic of ‘trust in AI’ from a variety of perspectives. It takes an approach from both an economic and social science perspective and from an information technology perspective, which also includes interdisciplinary aspects. In total, the volume presents fifteen contributions from 25 renowned authors, who contribute their expertise from fourteen different institutions. The aim of these debates is to enable learners, teachers, researchers, and decision-makers in politics and business to form well-founded opinions based on facts. On this basis, they should be able to make well-thought-out personal decisions when dealing with AI.
Schork, S. (2017). Wirksame Führung von Innovation: Werte, Stärken und Praktiken. Pro Business.
The dissertation entitled “Effective leadership of innovation” answers the research question “What values, strengths and practices do effective innovation leaders apply in the information and communication technology (ICT) environment?”. Six studies are being conducted as part of the mixed method design. Three studies with 49 participants form the basis of an inductive grounded theory analysis in which the Effective Innovation Leadership (EIL) model is created. The EIL model is tested in three industry case studies, contrasted with six successful pioneers of our time and partially validated in a quantitative study with 96 participants. The author Sabrina Schork has been working as a consultant in the innovation context since 2009 and is involved in science and teaching. She is a mentor, gives specialist lectures and holds seminars. She specializes in leadership development and corporate culture. Ms. Schork completed her doctorate at the Institute for Entrepreneurship, Technology Management and Innovation (EnTechnon) at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT).
Book Chapter
The Sustainable Business Model Canvas is a strategic management tool that helps organizations develop, visualize, and innovate their business models with a focus on sustainability. It extends the traditional Business Model Canvas to include elements that specifically address environmental, social, and economic impacts. The Sustainable Business Model Canvas encourages companies to consider not only their profitability but also their responsibility to the planet and society. It consists of 13 elements and can be downloaded from the Threebility website (see references).
The Effective Innovation Leadership framework is a self-reflection method designed to help especially individuals understand and harness their values, strengths, and practices to become more effective innovation leaders. This framework emphasizes self-awareness and self-leadership as the foundation for leading others and driving innovation.
Schork, S. (2021). Circular Innovator Education. In Ability to Act (pp. 105-124). BoekenGilde.
The following chapter builds on the article Dryver’s Seat from Erwin Sengers. He asks for higher education programs that train future self-directed entrepreneurs with the right attitude and the ability to think critically and control their actions. In order to master this challenging task, Erwin asks for conscious trainers who are innovators themselves. Innovators can ask the right critical questions, connect seamlessly unconnected information, and experiment. The following article is a first step towards raising the awareness of these new trainers and giving them methods, tools, and inspiration to develop sustainable innovators who think holistically. Innovators are the proportion of entrepreneurs who do not copy or optimize what already exists but commercialize new technologies or new ideas. Circular innovators are the doers who create systemic innovations solving our current social and ecological crisis.
In this chapter, the EIL (Effective Innovation Leadership) framework is tested empirically. First, peer-reviewed journals in the innovation management, leadership, and transformation discipline are analyzed. Second, a pre-test with 58 executives takes place. The response behavior of the participants varies depending on the company’s degree of digital maturity. Third, 20 innovation leaders employed in mature digital companies answer the survey. The participants perceive their company as innovative and state that up to 89% of created innovations are digital. Values relevant to digital innovation leaders are innovation, responsibility, positivity, and transparency. Relevant strengths are creativity and learning. Both strongly correlate with a few efficacy items. Decisiveness correlates with innovation strategy. Entrepreneurship, self-regulation, and culture correlate with each other. Creativity connects the value of innovation and the practice of communication. The insights from this chapter contribute to building a reliable and valid factor-based effective digital innovation leadership questionnaire in the future.
Germany has become sedate and partially missed digital opportunities generating value. Since 1995, the term innovation leadership is getting increasing attention. Still, there exists no clear definition. The effective innovation leadership (EIL) model resulted from a Ph.D. thesis and is grounded in the iteration of six data sets. It has been used in industry since 2014. This chapter examines the application of the EIL model in one German middle-class enterprise in 2018/2019. Core challenges in the systemic context, which hinder the effectiveness of innovation leadership in the organizational context, are the support of people across functions and hierarchies as well as inflexible structures and digital access. Especially negative pressure coming from an overvaluation of the shareholder, egos fighting for power, extensive drama triangular, fixed mindsets, and freeloaders hinder the effectiveness of innovation leadership. A comparison of the EIL model with rival theory shows that innovation leadership is close to entrepreneurial approaches and an integral part of innovation management.
This chapter examines the application of the Effective Innovation Leadership (EIL)-Model in the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) practice. The EIL-Model was the outcome of a study grounded in the iteration of six different data sources. In this chapter, the focus lies on insights taken by applying the EIL-Model within three German DAX-companies from different industries. The study leads to a better understanding of the EIL-Model components and reveals that seven sub categories are dominantly affecting the effectiveness of innovation leaders. Those sub categories are openness, trust, delivery, association, perseverance, entrepreneurship, and focus.
Open Access Articles
Schork, S.; Özdemir-Kaluk, D.; Zerey, C. Understanding Innovation and Sustainability in Digital Organizations: A Mixed-Method Approach. Sustainability 2025, 17, 415. https://doi.org/10.3390/su17020415
Schleiss, J., Mah, D.-K., Böhme, K., Fischer, D., Mesenhöller, J., Paaßen, B., Schork, S., & Schrumpf, J.(2023). Künstliche Intelligenz in der Bildung. Drei Zukunftsszenarien und fünf Handlungsfelder. Berlin: KI-Campus. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.7702620
Schork, S., Özdemir-Kaluk, D., Zerey, C. (2023). An integrative definition of digital, innovation, and sustainable: A bridge between disciplines, 1-37. Preprint. Available at: https://zenodo.org/records/10143498
Schork, S., Langemeyer, I., & Schmitt, F. J. (2022). Identification of Motivated and Creative Highly Gifted People: Development of the CMAC-Test, 1-28. Preprint. Available at: https://opus4.kobv.de/opus4-h-ab/frontdoor/index/index/docId/2121
Conferences
Schork, S. GenAI as a Collaborative Creativity Booster for Innovation. In: 21st OUI Open and User Innovation Conference, 5.-6.8.2024 Open and User Innovation Society, Boston, USA (2024). Paper
Schork, S. From Data to Innovation. In: XXXV ISPIM Conference, 9.-12.6.2024. The International Society for Professional Innovation Management Ltd., Tallinn, Estonia (2024). Paper
Schork, S., Özdemir-Kaluk, D., Slembrouck, S., Zerey, C. Sustainable Digital Innovator Program Workshop. In: 25th Transformations Conference, 11.-15.07.2023. Transformations Community, Prague, Czech Republic (2023).
Schork, S. Happiness and Innovation. In: 1st International Conference of Happiness and Well-Being, 17.-19.03.2023. Tomorrow People Organization, Bangkok, Thailand (2023).
Schork, S. Innovation Strategy. In: Global Open Innovation driven R&D Forum, 19.-20.10.2017. BERRY Professionals s.r.o., Frankfurt am Main, Germany (2017).
Schork, S., Heblich, B., & Terzidis, O. Effective innovation leadership. In: University-Industry-Innovation-Network Conference, 1.-3.6.2016. University Industry Innovation Network B.V., Amsterdam, Netherlands (2016). Available at: ResearchGate
Schork, S. Erfolgreiche Führungsprinzipien im Innovationsbereich, 8.-9.10.2015. In: 19. Internationale Jahreskonferenz zu Entrepreneurship, Innovation und Mittelstand. G-Forum, Universität Kassel, Germany (2015). Available at: Academia
Schork, S. Guiding behavior favoring sustainable enterprise innovation capability, 13.-14.11.2014. In: 18. Interdisziplinäre Entrepreneurship Jahreskonferenz. G-Forum, Universität Oldenburg, Germany (2014). Available at: ResearchGate
Schork, S. (2014). Arbeiten in einer innovationsgetriebenen Wirtschaft. In: 16. Kongress für Wissensmanagement, Social Media und Collaboration, 15.-16.10.2014. BITKOM Know-Tech, Frankfurt am Main, Germany. Available at: ResearchGate
Prof. Dr. Sabrina Schork 