

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
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
Research topics
Sustainable consumption, circular economy, consumption communities, consumption practices, branding
Research unit
Latest publications
Circular Consumption Practices as Matters of Care
Mesiranta, N., Mattila, M., Koskinen, O. & Närvänen, E., 2025, In: Journal of Business Ethics. 200, p. 13-30Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Scientific › peer-review
From Thin to Thick Relationships with Objects: Constituting Subjectivity through Consumer-Object Folds
Lehtokunnas, T. & Närvänen, E., 2025, Waste as a Critique. Corvellec , H. (ed.). Oxford University Press, p. 66-83 ( Oxford Scholarship Online).Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter › Scientific › peer-review
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, In: INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF SUSTAINABILITY IN HIGHER EDUCATION. 26, 9, p. 36-54 19 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Scientific › peer-review
Reducing bread surplus and waste at the bakery-retail interface in three European countries
Mesiranta, N., Mattila, M., Eriksson, M., Blasi, E., Sjölund, A., Bartek, L., Pietrangeli, R., Nasso, M., Cicatiello, C., Sulankivi, S. & Närvänen, E., Dec 2025, In: Cleaner Waste Systems. 12, 7 p., 100433.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Scientific › peer-review
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., May 2025, In: Sustainable Production and Consumption. 55, p. 51-62 12 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Scientific › peer-review
‘We Need to Play With the Same Rules as Others’: Circular Fashion Start-Ups and the Emerging Logic of Circularity
Kaivonen, I., Mesiranta, N. & Närvänen, E., 10 Sept 2025, (E-pub ahead of print) In: BUSINESS STRATEGY AND THE ENVIRONMENT.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Scientific › peer-review
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