Updated on 2024/10/07

写真b

 
LEHTONEN, Miikka J.
 
*Items subject to periodic update by Rikkyo University (The rest are reprinted from information registered on researchmap.)
Affiliation*
College of Business Department of Global Business
Graduate School of Business Master's Program in International Business
Title*
Specially Appointed Associate Professor
Degree
D.Sc. (Econ.) ( 6 2014   Aalto University School of Business )
Contact information
Mail Address
Research Theme*
  • My current research interests focus on design-driven industries, visual research, and blended learning. In essence, I am interested in how design-driven organizations create value in various organisational constellations. To this end, I utilize visual research methods that complement language-based methods. Given that design is a multisensory practice, we need to develop and nurture visual methods that cover the whole research process from collecting data to writing up our findings.Blended learning and education are also topics I feel passionate about. Like any other field, higher education also needs to renew itself in order to equip students with skills that enable them to create sustainable and desirable futures. As one of the co-founders of the Danish-Finnish Nordic Rebels movement, I want to goosebumpify teaching and learning. As such, my research interests focus on the intersection between problem-based and blended learning.

  • Research Interests
  • Visual research

  • Blended learning

  • Education

  • Strategic design

  • Design

  • Video game industry

  • Ecosystem

  • Campus Career*
    • 4 2021 - Present 
      College of Business   Department of Global Business   Specially Appointed Associate Professor
    • 4 2021 - Present 
      Graduate School of Business   Master's Program in International Business   Specially Appointed Associate Professor
     

    Research Areas

    • Others / Others  / Organization and management studies

    • Humanities & Social Sciences / Design

    Awards

    • 2019  
      Danish Design Award - Better Learning category 

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    Papers

    • Visualizing Embodied Experiences: Drawing as a Form of Reflective Inquiry Informed by Gestalt Art Therapy

      Miikka J. Lehtonen

      British Journal of Management   1 2024

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      Publishing type:Research paper (scientific journal)  

      DOI: 10.1111/1467-8551.12787

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    • Do all roads lead to Rome? A multi-case analysis of informal learning and team innovation Peer-reviewed

      Joyce Klein Marodin, Heidi Wechtler, Miikka J. Lehtonen

      Management Decision61 ( 12 ) 3644 - 3664   24 10 2023

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      Authorship:Last author, Corresponding author   Publishing type:Research paper (scientific journal)   Publisher:Emerald  

      Purpose

      In this study, the authors use the actor-network theory (ANT) as a theoretical framework to better understand constructing learning as part of the networking process to produce innovations. Focussing on the antecedents of innovation within three teams in an engineering company, the authors propose a framework to enhance understanding of the innovative processes. The authors apply ANT to examine how informal learning is distributed amongst human and non-human actors.

      Design/methodology/approach

      Based on 27 interviews in a large Australian engineering company, the authors' qualitative investigation shows that innovation can have very different antecedents. The authors mobilised ANT as the authors' vantage point to explore inanimate actors and their effect on social processes or, more specifically, networks and informal learning.

      Findings

      The authors propose a framework to better understand innovative processes by exploring the network aspects of non-human actors and their connection to learning. More specifically, findings contribute towards a more granulated understanding of how networks, learning and non-human actors contribute towards innovations in organisations.

      Practical implications

      This study has three significant implications for managers and organisations looking to improve their innovation processes. Firstly, fostering open communication is essential for developing successful innovation processes. Secondly, a close relationship with the customer and/or the final users has often been found to positively contribute to innovation processes. Finally, intrateam motivation is also critical when it comes to creating an environment that supports innovation processes.

      Originality/value

      Surprisingly, leadership, communication and motivation did not give the best innovative outcome as the authors expected. Challenging traditional theorisations, low teamwork spirit and high individual performance orientation were some of the powerful drivers of highly innovative teams.

      DOI: 10.1108/md-08-2022-1062

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      Other Link: https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/MD-08-2022-1062/full/html

    • 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 Peer-reviewed

      Miikka J. Lehtonen, Robin Gustafsson, Lobna Hassan

      Technological Forecasting and Social Change195   122756 - 122756   10 2023

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      Authorship:Lead author   Publishing type:Research paper (scientific journal)   Publisher:Elsevier BV  

      DOI: 10.1016/j.techfore.2023.122756

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    • Systematic literature review on networks of innovative teams: Current trends and future research avenues Peer-reviewed

      Heidi Wechtler, Joyce Klein Marodin, Miikka J. Lehtonen

      European Management Journal   8 2023

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      Authorship:Last author, Corresponding author   Publishing type:Research paper (scientific journal)   Publisher:Elsevier BV  

      DOI: 10.1016/j.emj.2023.08.007

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    • Towards "Strong" Multimodality: How Graphic Novels Can Help Us Rethink Modes

      Miikka J. J. Lehtonen, Samuel Putkonen

      JOURNAL OF MANAGEMENT INQUIRY   5 2023

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      Language:English   Publishing type:Research paper (scientific journal)   Publisher:SAGE PUBLICATIONS INC  

      Prior literature has highlighted the multimodal nature of organizations and organizing. However, management and organization studies continue to be guided by institutionalized conventions that prioritize words over other modes. This overreliance on words has resulted in "weak" multimodality that treats modes sequentially and often favors one mode over others. In this essay, we use play as a theoretical lens to explore how researchers can use the graphic novel to blend modes to extend "strong" multimodality. By focusing on the liminality of words and images in graphic novels, we make two critical contributions to multimodal research. First, we identify three graphic novels' affordances researchers can use in MOS to attend to embodied and affective experiences (eroticize), contextualize when one mode is insufficient (narrativize), and demonstrate new ways of inquiry (theorize). Second, we elucidate how these affordances emerge from the researcher's playful engagement with modes to explore how they might work together.

      DOI: 10.1177/10564926231174805

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    • Design Education Across Disciplines

      Miikka J. Lehtonen

          1 4 2023

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      Publisher:Springer International Publishing  

      DOI: 10.1007/978-3-031-23152-0

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    • How monetization mechanisms in mobile games influence consumers' identity extensions

      Miikka J. J. Lehtonen, J. Tuomas Harviainen, Annakaisa Kultima

      SERVICE BUSINESS17 ( 1 ) 113 - 136   3 2023

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      Language:English   Publishing type:Research paper (scientific journal)   Publisher:SPRINGER HEIDELBERG  

      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.

      DOI: 10.1007/s11628-022-00518-4

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    • Transcendental and Material Silence: A Multimodal Study on Silence in Team Meetings

      Valerie M. Saintot, Miikka J. Lehtonen

      JOURNAL OF MANAGEMENT INQUIRY   2 2023

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      Language:English   Publishing type:Research paper (scientific journal)   Publisher:SAGE PUBLICATIONS INC  

      Silence in management and organization studies has been predominantly understood as something negative. However, recent examples have highlighted silence as a positive element in learning and organizing. We contribute to prior literature on positive silence and multimodality by arguing silence can operate as a semiotic mode that mobilizes resources for meaning-making. Ten team meetings in a financial organization in Europe were investigated. Visual ethnography was mobilized to gather data through interviews, observations, and photographs. Our analysis identified two types of silence-transcendental and material-that both function through three mechanisms to resemiotize meaning. A framework is presented to situate silence in relation to verbal and visual modes. Three contributions are made to studies on silence and multimodality: extended conceptualizations of silence, silence as a semiotic mode in itself, and methodological pathways for studying silence. In addition, practical implications for team meetings and silence in the workplace are discussed.

      DOI: 10.1177/10564926231155110

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    • Introduction

      Miikka J. Lehtonen

          2023

    • Expatriates on the run: The psychological effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on expatriates' host country withdrawal intentions

      Alexei Koveshnikov, Miikka J. Lehtonen, Heidi Wechtler

      INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS REVIEW31 ( 6 )   12 2022

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      Language:English   Publishing type:Research paper (scientific journal)   Publisher:ELSEVIER  

      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.

      DOI: 10.1016/j.ibusrev.2022.102009

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    • Expatriates' Embeddedness and Host Country Withdrawal Intention: A Social Exchange Perspective

      Miikka J. Lehtonen, Alexei Koveshnikov, Heidi Wechtler

      MANAGEMENT AND ORGANIZATION REVIEW   12 2022

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      Language:English   Publishing type:Research paper (scientific journal)   Publisher:CAMBRIDGE UNIV PRESS  

      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.

      DOI: 10.1017/mor.2022.48

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    • Everywhere but Nowhere: Development Experiences of the International Game Developers in Finland during the Covid-19 Pandemic and Remote Work

      Solip Park, Annakaisa Kultima, Miikka J. Lehtonen, Jeanine Krath

      Proceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction6   29 10 2022

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      Publishing type:Research paper (scientific journal)  

      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 industry were 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.

      DOI: 10.1145/3549496

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    • Empowering change for future-making: Developing agency by framing wicked problems through design

      Miikka J. Lehtonen, Pamela Yeow, JiaYing Chew

      FUTURES139   5 2022

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      Language:English   Publishing type:Research paper (scientific journal)   Publisher:ELSEVIER SCI LTD  

      As the world and its challenges are becoming more complex, students and practitioners alike need to develop a more nuanced understanding of how to navigate problems today for envisioning desirable futures. Design's inherent focus on future-making and dealing with ill-defined problems has been identified as a potential way forward. Yet, there is a paucity of studies looking at what elements support (or hinder) students developing agency when it comes to framing and identifying problems. By taking the UN's Sustainable Development Goals as an example of ill-defined problems, we studied a multidisciplinary student body in a higher education institution attending a three-week intensive course focusing on how design can serve as a catalyst for social and environmental change. Our findings suggest future-oriented problem framing is dependent on the following aspects: combining theory and practice, engaging with the world and its complexities, reciprocal trust in design teams, self-reflection, changing perspectives, and emotional investment. Based on the findings, a model is crafted to illustrate how agency for future-making can emerge and be developed by engaging with real-life problems through design. Implications for research and practice point towards a more balanced relationship between skill development and ways of engaging with the surrounding world.

      DOI: 10.1016/j.futures.2022.102952

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    • Games-as-a-Disservice: Emergent value co-destruction in platform business models

      Miikka J. Lehtonen, Mikko Vesa, J. Tuomas Harviainen

      Journal of Business Research141   564 - 574   3 2022

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      Language:English   Publishing type:Research paper (scientific journal)   Publisher:Elsevier {BV}  

      Digital distribution has enabled game studios to reach global audiences and treat mobile games as services rather than products, creating novel opportunities to develop value propositions through the games-as-a-service (GaaS) approach. Yet simultaneously, there are also negative consequences caused by a sharp focus on maximizing profits at the expense of customer enjoyment. Drawing on a study bridging game development and gameplay experience, we shed light on the negative consequences of GaaS. We introduce the concept of Games-as-a-Disservice that draws on value co-destruction research by highlighting how platform business models in mobile games have emergent properties that paradoxically seem to encourage the creation and maintenance of negative playing experiences. Disservice in game development is conceptualized through four analytical themes: predatory monetization, play as labor, support denial and closure denial. To counter these properties, companies could adopt participatory design methods for a more granulated understanding of who plays their games and why.

      DOI: 10.1016/j.jbusres.2021.11.055

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    • Drawgasms: Playing with expectations and experiences of pleasure through multimodal accounts

      Miikka J Lehtonen, Katriina Heljakka, Krista Kosonen

      Sexualities   6 1 2022

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      Language:English   Publishing type:Research paper (scientific journal)   Publisher:SAGE PUBLICATIONS INC  

      Drawing on a study consisting of 29 multimodal accounts of orgasms, we make visible processes, emotions, and notions of playfulness that highlight the critical role of orgasms in transcending the fleeting distinction between reality and play. As sexual pleasure does not necessarily result from experiencing an orgasm, our data also reveals how playful strategies are enacted in order to mitigate ambiguity and societal norms. Instead of seeing the orgasm as a physiological or psychological change in an individual or as an epitome of "good" sex, the multimodal accounts employed in the study reveal attitudes, assumptions, and expectations related to playful pleasure.

      DOI: 10.1177/13634607211067346

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    • Timeliness in information sharing within creative industries. Case: Finnish game design

      J. Tuomas Harviainen, Miikka J. Lehtonen, Sören Kock

      Journal of Documentationahead-of-print ( ahead-of-print ) 83 - 95   3 1 2022

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      Language:English   Publishing type:Research paper (scientific journal)   Publisher:Emerald  

      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.

      DOI: 10.1108/JD-12-2020-0207

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    • Resilient Values in Game Industry Formation: Institutional Perspective to the Finnish Context

      Miikka J. Lehtonen, Katharina S. Schilli, J. Tuomas Harviainen

      Games and Culture17 ( 4 ) 614 - 638   17 10 2021

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      Language:English   Publishing type:Research paper (scientific journal)   Publisher:SAGE PUBLICATIONS INC  

      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.

      DOI: 10.1177/15554120211049572

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    • Beyond the inflection point: how and why individuals promote inventions in Japan

      Miikka J. Lehtonen, Ainomaija Haarla, Masaaki Kotabe

      Asian Business & Management19 ( 5 ) 505 - 529   12 11 2020

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      Language:English   Publishing type:Research paper (scientific journal)   Publisher:PALGRAVE MACMILLAN LTD  

      While Japan is one of the most innovative countries in the world, it has experienced a prolonged stagnant economic growth in the last 20 years. The development of new products and/or services has become critical for future economic growth. However, we know little about how individuals disseminate and legitimize inventions for new product and/or service development in Japan. This paper bridges this gap by looking at how and why material scientists, architects, and designers promote new inventions in Japan. We identified three novel roles (initiator, integrator, and interpreter) individuals take upon themselves to legitimize new uses for raw materials.

      DOI: 10.1057/s41291-019-00073-3

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    • The four faces of creative industries: visualising the game industry ecosystem in Helsinki and Tokyo

      Miikka J. Lehtonen, Antti Ainamo, J Harviainen

      Industry and Innovation27 ( 9 ) 1062 - 1087   20 10 2020

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      Language:English   Publishing type:Research paper (scientific journal)   Publisher:Informa {UK} Limited  

      Research on creative industries has been gaining momentum during the last few decades with contributions coming from diverse fields. This said, there is a paucity of studies to specify how and why companies in the game industry cluster. In this paper, we inquire into how individuals visualise perceptions of their game industry ecosystem in Helsinki, Finland, and Tokyo, Japan. Tokyo is one of the oldest game industry hotspots, whereas Helsinki has entered the picture only during the 21(st) century. Utilising drawings and their analysis and interpretation as our research method, in this paper we highlight the contested nature of ecosystems as arenas for collaboration and coopetition, shedding light on the diversity of ways individuals conceptualise an ecosystem. Our analysis yields four faces of ecosystems that help in understanding perceptions of clustering in the creative industries.

      DOI: 10.1080/13662716.2019.1676704

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    • From Being Observed to Becoming an Active Participant: How Visual Research Methods Contribute to Producing Useful and Credible Knowledge

      Miikka J. Lehtonen

      Palgrave Studies in Sustainable Business in Association with Future Earth   125 - 145   2020

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      Publishing type:Part of collection (book)  

      For us management scholars, gaining access to informants in organizations is crucial in terms of knowledge production and cutting-edge teaching. Not only does data collection support our career advancement, but it also contributes to our broadened body of expertise. But what do our respondents get out of the data collection process? Extant research has investigated the connections between industry and academia and how scholars depart from fieldwork, but to date informant reflexivity has not received much scholarly attention. Thus, the purpose of this chapter is to look at visual research methods, and drawings created by informants in particular, as acts of changing modalities and therefore positively contributing to informant reflexivity.

      DOI: 10.1007/978-3-030-37810-3_7

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    • A study on country images, destination beliefs, and travel intentions: A structural equation model approach

      Arto Lindblom, Taru Lindblom, Miikka J. Lehtonen, Heidi Wechtler

      International Journal of Tourism Research20 ( 1 ) 1 - 10   1 2018

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      Language:English   Publishing type:Research paper (scientific journal)   Publisher:Wiley-Blackwell  

      This study explores how individuals' cognitive and affective country images influence destination beliefs, and how these beliefs are associated with individuals' travel intentions. With the product country image and tourism destination image literature, we develop four hypotheses that are tested using structural equation modeling. We use a sample of 605 Japanese respondents. Our results indicate that the cognitive country image is positively associated with the affective country image. The findings suggest that both the affective and cognitive country images are positively related to the destination beliefs, and the destination beliefs are positively associated with the travel intentions.

      DOI: 10.1002/jtr.2148

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    • Safety perception as a sociotechnical network

      Markus K. Ahola, Heini A. Salovuori, Miikka J. Lehtonen

      PRADS 2016 - Proceedings of the 13th International Symposium on PRActical Design of Ships and Other Floating Structures   2016

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      Publishing type:Research paper (international conference proceedings)  

      Improving passenger safety through implementing human cognitive process knowledge into passenger safety regulations is a focus of current discussion in passenger ship safety. Perception plays important role in human cognitive process and ultimately guides people behaviour. This study investigates how passengers' perceive safety on board cruise ship and traces the connections between passengers' safety perception and ship safety regulations. Article takes a novel approach to safety research and employs network analysis to illustrate the connectivity of the two parties and investigates sociotechnical environment of passenger ship safety. The research reveals that sound and handrails can play a central role in passengers' safety perception, and although many regulations are applied to these typical features of passenger ships, passengers understand them from a different perspective. It is therefore suggested that passenger ship safety design must begin to consider passenger perceptions to avoid their fault interpretations of the environmental elements.

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    • Communicating competence through pechakucha presentations

      Miikka Lehtonen

      Journal of Business Communication48 ( 4 ) 464 - 481   10 2011

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      Publishing type:Research paper (scientific journal)  

      The aim of this article is to contribute to laying a theoretical foundation for visually communicating competence through PechaKucha presentations. PechaKucha is a PowerPoint presentation format consisting of 20 slides that are shown for 20 seconds each. This article argues that the PechaKucha presentation format can be aligned with Nonaka's SECI model (socialization, externalization, combination, internalization) to look at competences from a knowledge creation perspective. From a managerial perspective, the theoretical discussion in this article can be used in organizational settings to share knowledge through PechaKucha presentations between people with different backgrounds. On the other hand, from a research perspective, this article has at least two implications. First, by combining semiotics with knowledge management this article attempts to renew the call for a semiotic/linguistic perspective to knowledge management. Second, by combining visual communication with written and oral communication, the author calls for a more holistic approach to knowledge-related research in organizational settings. © 2011 by the Association for Business Communication.

      DOI: 10.1177/0021943611414542

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    Misc.

    • Virtual teams and knowledge communication: Drawing on semiotics for making knowledge about virtual teams and collaboration visible

      Miikka J. Lehtonen, Constance E. Kampf

      International Journal of Sociotechnology and Knowledge Development6 ( 3 ) 1 - 25   1 7 2014

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      Publishing type:Book review, literature introduction, etc.  

      How does culture affect virtual teams and the knowledge communication processes in which they engage? As virtual spaces are increasingly used to support teams and establish collaboration in cross-cultural projects, the notion of cross-cultural communication can be understood as shifting from contextual perspective to a semiotic perspective. That is to say, although the team members are using the same vocabulary they might attach different meanings to and have different knowledge about them thus highlighting the importance of approaching virtual teams and collaboration from a semiotic perspective. To look at how knowledge about virtual work is established in a multinational context, the authors interviewed members of a team that connects Finland and India. Results reveal five objects shared between the team members with varying knowledge about them. By making these differences in knowledge visible through semiotics the authors are calling for a more nuanced understanding of cross-cultural collaboration that draws on and extends the existing body of knowledge on virtual teams and collaboration.

      DOI: 10.4018/ijskd.2014070101

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