People

Members of the research group

Professor Hannu Saarijärvi

Professor (Services and Retailing) Elina Närvänen

University Lecturer Mika Yrjölä

University Lecturer Nina Mesiranta

University Lecturer Sonja Sulankivi

Doctoral Researcher Johanna Horppu

…

PhD students: Mari Ainasoja, Saara Huotari, Ines Kaivonen, Pauliina Koivisto, Roosa Luukkonen, Timo Nieminen, Mikael Nurminen, Mirva Paavola, Päivi Petänen, Maiju Viiki, Katri Weckroth

Researchers (post doc): Anne Kastarinen, Tiikku Kuuru, Sonja Sulankivi, Ulla-Maija Sutinen

…
Professors emeritus Hannu Kuusela and Pekka Tuominen

Member contact cards

Hannu Saarijärvi

Professor
markkinointi
Faculty of Management and Business
Tampere University
+358405351369
hannu.saarijarvi@tuni.fi

https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5803-9037

Hannu Kuusela

Professor Emerita/Emeritus
Faculty of Management and Business
Tampere University
+358503185989
hannu.kuusela@tuni.fi

Elina Närvänen

Professor
palvelut ja kauppa
Faculty of Management and Business
Tampere University
+358504352137
elina.narvanen@tuni.fi

More information

About me

I am Professor of Services and Retailing at Tampere University and Docent of Consumer Behavior and Consumer Research at University of Jyväskylä. My research profile is interdisciplinary, and I focus especially on interpretive approaches to consumer and service research. I mainly use qualitative research methods to investigate topics including food waste and the circular economy from the perspectives of consumption and business, customer and consumption communities as part of marketing, and branding in services and retailing fields. I am the leader of Wastebusters research group at the Faculty of Management and Business.

Field of expertise

Marketing, service research, sustainable consumption and circular economy, consumer behavior, consumption and customer communities, brand management, qualitative research methods (interviews, ethnography and netnography, narrative research, frame analysis)

Research topics

Sustainable consumption, circular economy, consumption communities, consumption practices, branding

Research unit

Business Studies

Project links

Top achievements

Main positions of trust

Editor-in-Chief, Qualitative Market Research: An International Journal

Editorial Review Board Member, European Journal of Marketing

Editorial Review Board Member, International Journal of Consumer Studies

Päätoimittaja, Kulutustutkimus.nyt

Hallituksen jäsen, Suomen kulutustutkimuksen seura

Hallituksen jäsen, Vähittäiskaupan tutkimussäätiö

Latest publications

Impact of food waste-related course attendance on students’ food waste reduction behaviours and knowledge: a case study from Indonesia

Sitompul, C., Gunawan, T., Mesiranta, N., Närvänen, E. & Octavia, J. R., 2025, julkaisussa: INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF SUSTAINABILITY IN HIGHER EDUCATION. 26, 9, s. 36-54 19 Sivumäärä

Tutkimustuotos: Artikkeli › Tieteellinen › vertaisarvioitu

The power of prevention and valorisation – Environmental impacts of reducing surplus and waste of bakery products at retail

Bartek, L., Sjölund, A., Brancoli, P., Cicatiello, C., Mesiranta, N., Närvänen, E., Scherhaufer, S., Strid, I. & Eriksson, M., toukok. 2025, julkaisussa: Sustainable Production and Consumption. 55, s. 51-62 12 Sivumäärä

Tutkimustuotos: Artikkeli › Tieteellinen › vertaisarvioitu

Activity focus groups – a discursive, practical and social method for studying consumption practices

Weckroth, K. & Närvänen, E., 9 toukok. 2024, julkaisussa: Qualitative Market Research. 27, 2, s. 212-230

Tutkimustuotos: Artikkeli › Tieteellinen › vertaisarvioitu

Circular Consumption Practices as Matters of Care

Mesiranta, N., Mattila, M., Koskinen, O. & Närvänen, E., 6 jouluk. 2024, (E-pub ahead of print) julkaisussa: Journal of Business Ethics.

Tutkimustuotos: Artikkeli › Tieteellinen › vertaisarvioitu

Companies’ future visions for circularity: A frame analysis based on Finnish front-runner CE companies

Nurminen, M., Mattila, M. & Närvänen, E., 2024, julkaisussa: Cleaner Production Letters. 7, 100066.

Tutkimustuotos: Artikkeli › Tieteellinen › vertaisarvioitu

Consumer collectives in the circular economy: A systematic review and research agenda

Luukkonen, R., Närvänen, E. & Becker, L., maalisk. 2024, julkaisussa: Sustainable Production and Consumption. 45, s. 281-293

Tutkimustuotos: Katsausartikkeli › vertaisarvioitu

From transactions to transformations: exploring transformative food retailing

Saarijärvi, H., Sparks, L., Närvänen, E., Erkkola, M., Fogelholm, M. & Nevalainen, J., 2024, julkaisussa: International Review of Retail, Distribution and Consumer Research. 34, 1, s. 104-121 18 Sivumäärä

Tutkimustuotos: Artikkeli › Tieteellinen › vertaisarvioitu

Half girl, half horse and with a stick – the augmented hybridity of hobbyhorse enthusiasts

Närvänen, E. & Cova, B., 2024, julkaisussa: JOURNAL OF MARKETING MANAGEMENT. 40, 17-18, s. 1791-1812 22 Sivumäärä

Tutkimustuotos: Artikkeli › Tieteellinen › vertaisarvioitu

Pääkirjoitus

Leipämaa-Leskinen, H. & Närvänen, E., 18 kesäk. 2024, julkaisussa: Kulutustutkimus.Nyt. 18, 1-2

Tutkimustuotos: Pääkirjoitus › Tieteellinen

Reimagining the inevitable: how metaverse imaginaries construct understandings of privacy and surveillance

Horppu, J. & Närvänen, E., 31 toukok. 2024, (E-pub ahead of print) julkaisussa: Consumption markets and culture.

Tutkimustuotos: Artikkeli › Tieteellinen › vertaisarvioitu

Mika Yrjölä

University Lecturer
(markkinoinnin yliopistonlehtori)
Faculty of Management and Business
Tampere University
+358503186816
mika.yrjola@tuni.fi

https://orcid.org/https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4388-075X

More information

About me

I work as a University lecturer of marketing at Tampere University. I am a member of the Customer-Oriented Research Group. In my research, I am especially interested, though not limited to, the themes of strategic marketing and marketing management. I use both quantitative and qualitative methods.

My profile at researchportal.tuni.fi.

My research group.

Responsibilities

Teaching and research

Research topics

Strategic marketing, including value propositions, business models, capabilities, and customer orientation

Latest publications

An experiential perspective on uncertainty in peer-to-peer platform services

Pérez López, R., Yrjölä, M., Becker, L., Panina, E. & Saarijärvi, H., 2025, julkaisussa: JOURNAL OF SERVICE MANAGEMENT. 36, 6, s. 29-52 24 Sivumäärä

Tutkimustuotos: Artikkeli › Tieteellinen › vertaisarvioitu

Business-to-business platforms

Mattila, M., Mikkonen, M. & Yrjölä, M., toukok. 2025, Elgar Encyclopedia of Innovation Management. Eriksson, P., Montonen, T., Laine, P.-M. & Hannula, A. (toim.). Edward Elgar, s. 62-66 (Elgar Encyclopedias in Business and Management).

Tutkimustuotos: Ensyklopedia-artikkeli › Tieteellinen › vertaisarvioitu

Crafting value propositions for an AI-enhanced digital platform

Mattila, M. & Yrjölä, M., 2024, Handbook of Services and Artificial Intelligence. Scupola, A., Sundbo, J., Fuglsang, L. & Henten, A. (toim.). Edward Elgar, s. 250-264

Tutkimustuotos: Luku › Tieteellinen › vertaisarvioitu

Customer-centric organization: Creating customer value for competitive advantage

Yrjölä, M. & Hokkanen, H., 2024, Business Competitiveness and Sustainability: Theory, Practice, and Future Challenges. Arraya, M. & Ferreira, J. J. (toim.). London: Routledge, s. 110-125 16 Sivumäärä

Tutkimustuotos: Luku › Tieteellinen › vertaisarvioitu

Digital Technologies and the Issues, Tasks, and Knowledge of Sales Teams

Yrjölä, M., Hautamäki, P. & Mattila, M., 2024, Digital Marketing: Analyzing its Transversal Impact. Botelho Pires, P., Duarte Santos, J. & Veiga Pereira, I. (toim.). Boca Raton: CRC Press, s. 111-130 20 Sivumäärä

Tutkimustuotos: Luku › Tieteellinen › vertaisarvioitu

How AI augments value creation: towards a model of human-AI cooperation in services research

Rusthollkarhu, S., Mattila, M., Aarikka-Stenroos, L. & Yrjölä, M., 2024, Handbook of Services and Artificial Intelligence. Scupola, A., Sundbo, J., Fuglsang, L. & Henten, A. (toim.). Edward Elgar, s. 195-214

Tutkimustuotos: Luku › Tieteellinen › vertaisarvioitu

Paradox blindness: How managers frame coopetition

Yrjölä, M., Niittymies, A. & Tabas, A. M., heinäk. 2024, julkaisussa: Industrial Marketing Management. 120, s. 160-174 15 Sivumäärä

Tutkimustuotos: Artikkeli › Tieteellinen › vertaisarvioitu

Value propositions of artificial intelligence in retailing

Yrjölä, M., Hautamäki, P. & Ranta, R., 7 lokak. 2024, (E-pub ahead of print) julkaisussa: International Review of Retail, Distribution and Consumer Research.

Tutkimustuotos: Artikkeli › Tieteellinen › vertaisarvioitu

Customer Orientation: The Case of Creating Value in Ecosystems

Yrjölä, M., Niittymies, A. & Tabas, A. M., 2023, Reconfiguration of Business Models and Ecosystems: Decoupling and Resilience. Marinova, S. T. & Marinov, M. A. (toim.). New York: Routledge, s. 163-184 22 Sivumäärä

Tutkimustuotos: Luku › Tieteellinen › vertaisarvioitu

Retail metamorphosis – how retailing reconfigures itself for the future

Närvänen, E., Yrjölä, M. & Saarijärvi, H., 2023, julkaisussa: International Review of Retail, Distribution and Consumer Research. 33, 5, s. 441-444

Tutkimustuotos: Pääkirjoitus › Tieteellinen

Nina Mesiranta

University Lecturer
markkinointi
Faculty of Management and Business
Tampere University
+358504701017
nina.mesiranta@tuni.fi

https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8746-1659

Johanna Horppu

Doctoral Researcher
Faculty of Management and Business
Tampere University
+358504310998
johanna.horppu@tuni.fi

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0360-7292

More information

About me

I am a Doctoral Researcher in Marketing and my research sits on the field of cultural consumer research. I am interested in the relationships between consumers, their data and various technologies. In my doctoral research I delve into consumers' privacy experience and the ways it is embedded in the surrounding socio-cultural environment and arises from the entanglements between consumers, data, technologies, cultural imaginaries and affects. Through the utilization of qualitative methods I aim for a deep understanding of consumers and their lifeworlds.

Field of expertise

interpretative consumer research, technology, consumer privacy, consumer data, qualitative methods

Research unit

Customer Oriented Marketing Research Group

Selected publications

Latest publications