Elina Närvänen
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.
Fields 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)
Projects
Project links
Top achievements
PhD thesis of the year award by University of Tampere and School of Management 2014; Prima doctor title in Doctoral promotion, 2018
Main positions of trust
Editorial Review Board Member, European Journal of Marketing
Editorial Board Member, Kulutustutkimus.nyt (A journal published by the Finnish Association of Consumer Research)
Research topics
Sustainable consumption, circular economy, consumption communities, consumption practices, branding
Research unit
Selected publications
Most important recent publications:
Kastarinen, A., Närvänen, E., & Valtonen, A. (2022). Doing Family over Time: The Multilayered and Multitemporal Nature of Intergenerational Caring through Consumption. Journal of Consumer Research. https://doi.org/10.1093/jcr/ucac050
Leipämaa-Leskinen, H., Närvänen, E., & Makkonen, H. (2022). The rise of collaborative engagement platforms. European Journal of Marketing, 56(13), 26-49. https://doi.org/10.1108/EJM-11-2020-0798
Mesiranta, N., Närvänen, E., & Mattila, M. (2022). Framings of food waste: How food system stakeholders are responsibilized in public policy debate. Journal of Public Policy & Marketing 41 (2), 144-161. https://doi.org/10.1177/07439156211005722
Moisander, J, Närvänen, E. & Valtonen, A. (2020) Interpretive marketing research: Using ethnography in strategic market development. In L. Penaloza, L. Visconti & N. Ozcaglar–Toulouse (2020) (Eds.), Marketing Management: A Cultural Perspective. 2nd Edition, London: Routledge.
Närvänen, E., Mattila, M., Keränen, J., Kaivonen, I. & Nurminen, M. (2022). Framing value propositions in the food waste business: A sociocultural approach. Industrial Marketing Management, 105, 211-222. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.indmarman.2022.06.008
Närvänen, E., Mattila, M., Mesiranta, N. & Heikkinen, A. (2020) ”Introduction: Solutions for managing food waste”, in Närvänen, E., Mattila, M., Mesiranta, N. & Heikkinen, A. (Eds.) Food waste management: Solving the wicked problem. London: Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 1-24. https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-030-20561-4_1
Latest publications
Activity focus groups – a discursive, practical and social method for studying consumption practices
Weckroth, K. & Närvänen, E., 9 May 2024, In: Qualitative Market Research. 27, 2, p. 212-230Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Scientific › peer-review
Companies’ future visions for circularity: A frame analysis based on Finnish front-runner CE companies
Nurminen, M., Mattila, M. & Närvänen, E., 2024, In: Cleaner Production Letters. 7, 100066.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Scientific › peer-review
Consumer collectives in the circular economy: A systematic review and research agenda
Luukkonen, R., Närvänen, E. & Becker, L., Mar 2024, In: Sustainable Production and Consumption. 45, p. 281-293Research output: Contribution to journal › Review Article › peer-review
From transactions to transformations: exploring transformative food retailing
Saarijärvi, H., Sparks, L., Närvänen, E., Erkkola, M., Fogelholm, M. & Nevalainen, J., 2024, In: International Review of Retail, Distribution and Consumer Research. 34, 1, p. 104-121 18 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Scientific › peer-review
Reimagining the inevitable: how metaverse imaginaries construct understandings of privacy and surveillance
Horppu, J. & Närvänen, E., 31 May 2024, (E-pub ahead of print) In: Consumption markets and culture.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Scientific › peer-review
Self-regulating a collaborative engagement platform: case REKO
Leipämaa-Leskinen, H., Närvänen, E. & Makkonen, H., 23 Apr 2024, Understanding Collaborative Consumption. Albinsson, P. A., Perera, B. Y. & Lawson, S. J. (eds.). p. 54-66 13 p.Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter › Scientific › peer-review
“I Do What I Do to Drive Change”: The Social-Symbolic Work of Sustainable Fashion Influencers
Kaivonen, I., Mesiranta, N. & Närvänen, E., 2024, In: Fashion Theory - Journal of Dress Body and Culture. 28, 1, p. 85-115Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Scientific › peer-review
“Tag a person who loves candy” – sociocultural approach to unhealthy food marketing to adolescents in social media
Sutinen, U.-M., Luukkonen, R. & Närvänen, E., 2024, In: YOUNG CONSUMERS. 25, 2, p. 211-225Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Scientific › peer-review
Doing Family over Time: The Multilayered and Multitemporal Nature of Intergenerational Caring through Consumption
Kastarinen, A., Närvänen, E. & Valtonen, A., Aug 2023, In: JOURNAL OF CONSUMER RESEARCH. 50, 2, p. 282-302 21 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Scientific › peer-review
Examining consumer food waste through grocery retailers’ customer data: Segments and practical implications
Närvänen, E., Mesiranta, N., Saarijärvi, H. & Nevalainen, J., Jul 2023, In: INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF CONSUMER STUDIES. 47, 4, p. 1273-1290Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Scientific › peer-review