Browsing by Author "Lehtonen, Miikka J."

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  • The career development of China's women leaders
    (2017) Chen, Zhen
     School of Business | Master's thesis
    Objective of the Study This study seeks to analyse how the career development of China’s women leaders displays. Women leader group, as a crucial part reflects the gender equality of a country. However, little attention so far has been given to the career development of women leader group. This research sought to bridge the gap by studying the career development rules of Chinese women leaders. Methodology and the Analytical Framework The study adopts grounded theory to analyze the career development of China’s women leaders. Basing on the theory, this research employs open coding, axial coding, selective coding and theoretical saturation process to analyze how the career growth rule displays. Findings and Conclusion Study results indicated that three rules: 1) Women leaders’ work value and self-efficacy interact with each other. Work value has a positive effect on self-efficacy and and self-efficacy influences choosing work value. The interaction between work value and self-efficacy forms a belief and stimulates the formation of vocational goal and work meanings. 2) Women leaders' work values and self-efficacy could influenc occupational goals, performance and continuance through vocational goals and work meanings. Work values an self-efficacy are internal drives for women leaders to achieve career success. The clearer the professional belief is, the higher self-efficacy is, and individuals will be more likely to achieve career success. 3) The achievements of career achievement, psychological capital and thinking mode in the process of career development have an impact on the professional values and self-efficacy of women leaders. Influenced by common contextual factors, work value and self-efficacy of women leaders are constantly adjusted and updated with the development of their own career, thus affecting their future career choice and vocational behavior.
  • Developing design literacy for social agency
    (2019-11-01) Lehtonen, Miikka J.; CHEW, JiaYing
     A4 Artikkeli konferenssijulkaisussa
    Preparing a workforce that is well - equipped with the skills and knowled ge to navigate the complexities of our global human society is a key responsibility of design and higher education. Extant research has advocated design as one of the essential skills to master in the future, and this design literacy has been claimed to be a critical factor in creating innovations and new solutions towards transforming our societies. To explore how non - designers become more design literate, in this paper we present findings from a study looking at how multidisciplinary student teams develop their design literacy in an action - oriented course setting. Based on our initial analysis, blending the boundaries between universities and the surrounding society positively contributes towards developing design literacy. This, in turn, has pedagogical i mplications as well as increases our understanding on how design travels to other disciplinary domains.
  • Everywhere but Nowhere: Development Experiences of the International Game Developers in Finland during the Covid-19 Pandemic and Remote Work
    (2022-10-29) Park, Solip; Kultima, Annakaisa; Lehtonen, Miikka J.; Krath, Jeanine
     A1 Alkuperäisartikkeli tieteellisessä aikakauslehdessä
    The Covid-19 pandemic has influenced people's views on work, and a significant portion of the global game industry converted to remote work during the pandemic. To explore the status of game development in this pivotal moment, we have conducted semi-structured interviews with 27 immigrant/expatriate game developers ("game expats") in Finland analyzing their migration push and pull on societal, industrial, social, and individual factors. The results indicate societal and industrial factors simultaneously influencing game expats' migration intention, but with an increasing influence of game corporation's role on developers' both on-the-job and off-the-job embeddedness due to an absence of (local) community activities during the pandemic. The data also reveals that game developers are valuing the physical workspace for face-to-face interactions, despite the industrial norm of digital tools and seamless transition to remote work. Furthermore, an alarming stratification and hierarchization within the game industrywere identified, which game developers self-dividing in-house versus outsourced workforce even if they were both required to work remotely. This paper contributes to game studies on game developers' experiences as an attempt to investigate the local context of game development. It is also one of the first snapshots of game work practices in Finland during the Covid-19 era.
  • Expatriates on the run: The psychological effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on expatriates’ host country withdrawal intentions
    (2022-12) Koveshnikov, Alexei; Lehtonen, Miikka J.; Wechtler, Heidi
     A1 Alkuperäisartikkeli tieteellisessä aikakauslehdessä
    Extant research on expatriation in high-stress environments where stress is caused by ongoing and unexpected natural crises remains limited. Drawing on stress theory, in this study, we develop a model to examine the stress-inducing effects of intra-family concerns and workplace discrimination on the intentions to leave the host country among expatriates in the high-stress environment of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. We also explore whether gender and the level of work adjustment moderate the propensity of intra-family health concerns and workplace discrimination to induce psychological stress. Based on our analysis of 381 expatriates living and working in the United Arab Emirates, we find the model to be generally supported. We also reveal an intriguing moderating effect of work adjustment on the relationship between intra-family health concerns and psychological stress. Overall, the analysis is among the first ones to shed light on the role of natural crises’ stressors in defining expatriate outcomes.
  • Expatriates' Embeddedness and Host Country Withdrawal Intention : A Social Exchange Perspective
    (2023-08-13) Lehtonen, Miikka J.; Koveshnikov, Alexei; Wechtler, Heidi
     A1 Alkuperäisartikkeli tieteellisessä aikakauslehdessä
    In this study, we conceptualize the thus far little explored relationship between expatriate and host country as a form of social exchange governed by the norm of reciprocity. Drawing from social exchange theory and our analysis of 451 self-initiated expatriates (SIEs) living and working in the United Arab Emirates, we examine whether the degree of SIEs' career and community embeddedness explains their host country withdrawal intention via enhanced perceived institutional trust and a more tolerant attitude toward workplace discrimination. Our results provide general support for our theoretical model and most of our hypotheses. In this way, our article makes three contributions. First, it suggests a novel way to conceptualize the relationship between SIEs and host country as a form of social exchange. Second, it differentiates between two dimensions of embeddedness and explicates how the two contribute to SIEs' intentions to stay in the host country. Finally, the analysis theorizes and empirically tests two previously little explored mechanisms of enhanced institutional trust and a more tolerant attitude toward workplace discrimination through which SIEs' host country embeddedness influences their host country withdrawal intentions.
  • How AI creates value in business: Exploring domain-specific artificial intelligence with management consultants
    (2020) Pajamies, Eljas
     School of Business | Master's thesis
    Artificial intelligence (AI) has attracted significant attention during the past years as it proves to offer disruptive applications to nearly every industry by making new products and business models possible by predicting phenomena that humans cannot detect. Even though it has become a hot topic of discussion for big and small companies, many of them face difficulties to decide where, when, and how it should be used to capture the value it has to offer. The purpose of this thesis is to explore how companies can find and frame business problems to create products and workflows where humans and AI can complement each other. Through a case study in the management consulting industry, I examine how consultants approach AI, what is the knowledge required for framing business problems for AI, and how the problem framing process could be conducted. To answer the research questions, ten semi-structured interviews were conducted with the case company as well as three interviews with external consultants. A workshop was designed and carried out with nine case company consultants to test AI problem framing in practice as well as to develop new product and service concepts. A literature review of the most relevant studies on artificial intelligence, management consulting, and design methods in problem solving was gathered to form a strong foundation for the research. By understanding how to approach AI in the context of management consulting, my thesis contributes to the academic discussion of technology strategy, innovation management, and design research. The results indicate that AI presents extensive technological and cultural challenges to companies. The role of management consultants in AI projects emerged as specific, and distinctive from traditional IT projects. Essentially, the role of a management consultant was identified as strategic partner with an understanding of the business problem behind the solution. The study identified two core knowledge domains that supported consultants process of framing problems for AI labeled technologies: business domain understanding and analytical literacy. The AI workshop was recognized to have significant impact on the participants as it allowed them to acquire deeper knowledge on topic and apply it to their clients’ business problems. The study demonstrates that even though there is no established formula to capture the business value of AI, certain enabling and supporting elements can be identified. These include analytical literacy, business domain understanding, and cross-disciplinary work. Furthermore, AI workshop can give innovators across knowledge domains actionable methods to work alongside each other, and therefore facilitate problem framing and development of innovative AI solutions.
  • How can a mathematics teacher give PE classes in rural China? An exploration on exporting Finnish class teachers' education to rural China
    (2017) Cao, Yuan
     School of Business | Master's thesis
    Finnish education export has been a popular topic in recent years. Despite of the popularity of this topic, related studies in Finland are still at general level on challenges, opportunities, strategies, and etc. This thesis research aims at extending the current studies to identify a specific education export product that can be competitive in the international market and a potential foreign market that this education product can be exported. Literature studies on teachers’ education in Finland show that teachers’ education, especially class teacher education, enjoys a good reputation as it prepares excellent teachers for Finnish primary schools. On the other side, literature studies on Chinese class teacher education programs for rural areas indicate that there is an urgent need in expertise to get improved. Thus the ultimate goal of this thesis is to find out how Finland’s expertise in class teacher education can be “exported” to China for rural areas. To meet that goal, an applied qualitative research was conducted by gathering information from various stakeholders: Chinese universities who are currently running the class teacher education programs, class teacher students, local governments in charge, headmasters and teachers of primary schools in rural areas, Finnish agency involved in education export to China. The data was collected through interviews, observations, and documentation, and it was analyzed through framework approach, which generated eight major categories as the result of empirical findings. The findings have three major contributions: 1) they confirm several severe problems that current class teacher education programs are facing; 2) they establish a pairing between these problems and specific Finnish expertise in class teacher education; 3) they identify a reasonable entry strategy for Finnish organizations, which is firstly offering professional trainings, then the gained experience can be used explore other entry strategy of franchising or joint-venture. In the end, the author is calling for a more holistic field research with more universities and government officials to better shape Finland’s educational offering. The author is also suggesting to tap this research problem through action research or framing the problem as a “wicked problem” to inspire innovative solutions. Based on the findings, the author also gives practical recommendations for those who are involved in education export to China: be sensitive to the potential niche market; and know your users rather than just the clients who pay.
  • How monetization mechanisms in mobile games influence consumers’ identity extensions
    (2023-03) Lehtonen, Miikka J.; Harviainen, J. Tuomas; Kultima, Annakaisa
     A1 Alkuperäisartikkeli tieteellisessä aikakauslehdessä
    Digital distribution and new business models have transformed mobile games from products to services. This servitization turn has enabled consumers to extend their identity in mobile games through prolonged engagement. Drawing on a qualitative study of 17 consumers and 16 producers of mobile games, we elucidate how servitization can have certain negative implications for consumers’ identities. Our findings reveal four interrelated facets through which consumers can extend their identity in mobile games and four corresponding monetization mechanisms. Overt monetization can create identity disconnections and we offer suggestions on re-establishing the connection.
  • Living a reflective life. A thought experiment on the foundations of professional practice.
    (2021) Lutz, Leonard
     School of Business | Master's thesis
    Reflection is a phenomenon that has received widespread interest within different domains, including research of professional practice and organizational life, and that is often mounted as a supplier of epistemological, methodological, or normative ideals, as it has been associated with deep and systematic thinking, ethical conduct, or the transformation of social conditions. At that, a plethora of rival conceptions of the phenomenon exist, and these conceptions are often distinguished by the drawing of arbitrary definitory lines as motivated by the respective scholar’s personal metatheoretical concerns. In this work, I develop a conceptual account of reflection and critical reflection to provide a fundamental critique of existing conceptions and to inquire into the normative potential of reflection. Drawing from phenomenology and analytical philosophy, I define reflection as ‘thematizing one’s own attitudes’ and distinguish it from deliberation, making it possible to compare and locate the specific forms of reflection scholars have in mind when they conceive of the phenomenon as a goal-oriented pursuit of coherent justified beliefs and intentions within a larger spectrum that equally includes biased, convoluted, and incoherent ways to reflect. Besides the distinction between reflection and deliberation, I suggest that the phenomenon of reflecting on one’s life – thematizing how one experiences the world at large qua the holistic context of one’s attitudes – provides the key to understanding the motivational dynamics and interrelations between different forms of reflection. By extending these conceptual developments to encompass the social dynamics of different forms of reflection, I inquire into the foundations of professional practice within contemporary organizational life. Specifically, I raise the question of what it would mean to live a reflective life, both individually and collectively, and how this social ideal relates to the reality of institutional life partitioned into the spheres of the private and the professional. As a result, I suggest that reflection is misunderstood if it is taken as a provider of justified attitudes, theoretical orientations, or life conceptions. Instead, the normative merit of critical reflection lies in making normative conversation possible, making its actualization essential for cooperation within free societies.
  • Managing for Creativity and Profit in Creative Industries: A case study in music industry
    (2020) Keinonen, Asko
     School of Business | Bachelor's thesis
    Objectives The main objectives for this study were to explore the role of management and its relationship with creatives in creative industries. In this study the target was to review how management may endorse creativity, what is required for creativity to be prosperous and what is required to make creativity profitable. The further focus was set in the context of music industry, where these targets were further reviewed through a context of a case study. Summary For setting the ground for the research the literature review was firstly conducted, which formed the approaches and perspectives for the further primary data collection. Secondly, a conceptual framework was formed by combining the findings from literature review into visualized framework. Thirdly, the qualitative primary data collection was conducted by interviews and the findings of the interviews are presented. Fourthly, the findings of the primary data collected are reviewed with the past literature. Conclusions Managing creativity requires the alignment of the artistic and creative outcomes with the economic outcomes. As these two are in a complementary relationship, a creative business is able to find prosperity in economical goals through creativity. However in a conflict, they result into a mutually exclusive relationship between each other. Managers have the responsibility to endorse creative processes as well as possible to create the environment where space and time exist in the creative process in balance with productivity and economic goals.
  • The multiplex of value creation and capture logics in the video game industry : An integrative review of 20 years of studies and a future research agenda
    (2023-10) Lehtonen, Miikka J.; Gustafsson, Robin; Hassan, Lobna
     A1 Alkuperäisartikkeli tieteellisessä aikakauslehdessä
    With the development of digital devices, information and communication technology, and software, value creation and capture logics have evolved, and new ones have emerged. The video game industry has been a forerunner in this evolution. It has grown from an industry that revolved primarily around entertainment to one that engages game developers, users, spectators, and countless actors, becoming intertwined with many other entertainment and non-entertainment industries, such as education and health management. Although the economic importance of the video game industry has been rapidly increasing over the last two decades or so, research on value creation and capture in the video game industry has remained fragmented and predominantly based on transactional and static views. By addressing theoretical shortcomings and oversights in prior literature, this integrative review of 278 studies makes three key contributions. First, we highlight shortcomings in the current body of knowledge. Second, we craft an integrated framework of value creation and capture logics, which we have conceptualized as the multiplex of value creation logics. Third, we provide future research directions and perspectives on the future evolution of value creation and capture logics, both in and across markets and industry sectors.
  • Music Sharing: The Social Drivers Behind the Phenomenon
    (2020) Saarinen, Otto
     School of Business | Bachelor's thesis
    Objectives The main objective of this study was to combine electronic word-of-mouth and interaction on social networking sites regarding music. The two concepts have been studied before, but the former not related to music nor the latter from the perspective of consumer-to-consumer. The thesis also aimed to answers the three research questions that were introduced. Summary A literature review was done to examine the motivators for engaging in word-of-mouth behavior on electronic platforms. From what was found, a conceptual framework was created to help examine the trend of music sharing on social networking sites. The research itself was conducted via a qualitative study, in which six people took part in two individual semi-structured interviews and were asked to go through a life event that has happened to them. All of the participants had a history of music sharing on social networking platforms and were more or less still active in that regard. Based on the previous research done on electronic word-of-mouth, it was expected that homophily, the feeling of belonging and perceived relationship with the artist would be the biggest motivational contributors to the sharing. While all of these were met, the social sharing of emotion also seemed to be an important factor for sharing music. Conclusions People view social aspects, such as belonging to a group and perceived relationship with an artist, as important in their sharing habits. Most of the existing literature agrees with the importance of social factors, but some add other motives, such as economic incentives. The inclusion of social sharing of emotion and its secondhand sharing seems to be a driver that is not recognized by other authors, but that seems to be mainly due to the context.
  • The relevance of online piracy in the new decade: An empirical study of video content piracy
    (2020) Ahmed, Muzaddid
     School of Business | Bachelor's thesis
    Objectives The main objective of the study was to research key factors and motivations for consumers when choosing to engage in the online piracy of video content. These motivations would then be utilised by businesses and content providers to improve their current distribution and business models, services and distribution channels in order to reduce piracy rates of their video content. To date, few studies have attempted to extend current business models to rising piracy rates. Summary Global video content piracy rates continue to rise despite industry and government efforts to stagnate it. Academic research in the form of a quantitative survey study was deployed to explore what factors contribute to consumer piracy behavior. Data was gathered through a survey, which received 303 responses from 45 different countries, spanning six continents. The data from the survey indicated core service issues as main contributing factors to online piracy of video content. Differences in piracy rates between demographics such as gender and location were also found. Conclusions Consumers and pirates alike would gladly pay for content but feel as in content is too dispersed across different streaming services, regionally locked or receive delayed releases in one’s own region, making piracy the best or in some cases only option to consume content instantly. Consumers also neutralized the crime with by denying financial impact from piracy and were more likely to pirate if they had the necessary capabilities or less moral obligation against it. Content providers need to prioritize synchronized global distribution and educational campaigns about the harms caused by online piracy.
  • Resilient Values in Game Industry Formation: Institutional Perspective to the Finnish Context
    (2022-06) Lehtonen, Miikka J.; Schilli, Katharina S.; Harviainen, J. Tuomas
     A1 Alkuperäisartikkeli tieteellisessä aikakauslehdessä
    With the proliferation of technologies and digital platforms, contemporary game development firms’ value propositions have become more complex. While on a global scale a considerable share of the game industry’s revenue is captured by a few dozen firms, we are also witnessing the emergence of local and regional hotspots. In this context, legitimacy is of utmost importance if new competitive advantages are to become institutionalized as an industry. This paper extends studies which have offered temporal snapshots to the regional or local formation of game industry by focusing on the Finnish context. The concept of resilient values is introduced as legitimizing how the game industry is shaped and how the values are interpreted to develop the industry further. Our findings suggest legitimacy is intertwined with resilient values, thus resulting in the industry evolving over time through three different stages: (1) incubation period, (2) growth phase, and (3) institutionalized legitimacy.
  • Thoughtful Game Design
    (2019) Chu, Van Hoai
     School of Business | Master's thesis
  • Timeliness in information sharing within creative industries. Case: Finnish game design
    (2022-01-03) Harviainen, J. Tuomas; Lehtonen, Miikka J.; Kock, Sören
     A1 Alkuperäisartikkeli tieteellisessä aikakauslehdessä
    Purpose This article aims to examine instances of timeliness and temporality in information sharing conducted by members of the Finnish game design community. By doing so, it provides new knowledge into the ways in which organizational information practices may take place on an individual and interpersonal level, and the ways in which timeliness impact information sharing. Design/methodology/approach The article is based on three sets of interviews, gathered in 2012–2014, 2017–2018 and 2018–2020. Findings The authors identify six themes of information sharing and show that time is strongly tied to the ways in which people in the Finnish game development industry share information outside of their own companies. Originality/value This type of information sharing has not been previously researched. This study brings forth new knowledge on how timeliness influence information sharing within creative industries.
  • Underlying Factors in the Cosmetic Purchases of Fortnite
    (2020) Varis, Kalle
     School of Business | Bachelor's thesis
  • UNDERSTANDING HOW TIKTOK AFFECTS CONSUMER PERCEPTIONS: Qualitative Study on Generation Z
    (2021) Koski, Julita
     School of Business | Bachelor's thesis
  • What the HEL? Exploring Customer Experience in Public Services - Case: City of Helsinki
    (2017) Airaksinen, Iina
     School of Business | Master's thesis
    This study focuses on defining customer experience in city services and aims to identify how the customers currently experience the services. The study was conducted as a qualitative case study and the empirical data was collected through qualitative interviews. The interviews were based on a conceptual framework derived from academic literature. The term customer was selected to describe the user of service over the alternative terms (such as citizen or user) to emphasize the relationship between a service provider and a customer over the societal or functional roles. In the theoretical framework, customer experience spans over different stages. These are referred as stages of before, during and after a direct service encounter. Before the service encounter, customer expectations influence the service experience. Expectations consists of different factors such as customer expectations include past experiences, personal needs, word-of-mouth and promotion. During the service encounter, functional features (the manner in which the service is delivered or how customer receives technical quality), technical features (what customer receives from a service) and situational factors (emotions and other hard-to-control elements) have an impact on customer experience. Moreover, other tangible factors such as physical environment, personnel and communication materials contribute to the experience. After the service encounter, factors that influence customer experience include perceived quality and advocacy (saying positive things about a government entity to other people) compared to customer loyalty in private sector. It is however, important to notice that customer experience as a phenomenon is holistic and multidimensional and does not have specific beginning or ending point. The service offering in city services is extremely wide and diversified. As the objective of the study is to observe the overall customer experience in city services, three services were chosen for the study. In all of these three service cases, some common elements were identified that contributed to the customer experience. In the customer interviews, it was found out that the customers were generally speaking satisfied with their service experiences. However, services have to be developed case by case as the relevant touchpoints and development areas vary from service to service. General problems areas were identified as low and/or non-existent service expectations towards city services, issues in information flow and challenges in finding service information. These all contributed to the general perception on the city services. Recommendations for the city included clarifying and further developing the city service brand, developing promotion strategies for better customer communication and improving the information flow through better digital services. Above all, it must be noted that this thesis acts as preliminary study mapping the topic in question with the goal of exploring the underlying themes and providing initial suggestions and recommendations for service development in city services. It provides insight into the current customer mindsets.