Little is known about the effects of work communities' different value-bases and their implementation in practice. This research aims to produce new scientific information about how modern leadership grounded in practical implementation of different value-bases affects high performance and happiness in work communities. The research produces practical information that can be used in developing working life, and responds to the societal need on how to build sustainable working life.
Background
Goal
The study is conducted as an anonymous comparative longitudinal survey (FI/EN) in multiple organisations. It examines employees’ experiences in three phases, first focussing on leadership and opportunities for influence, then organisational values, work and the work environment, and finally, experiences of performance and wellbeing. Completing each survey phase takes around 10 minutes. Neither participating organisations nor individual respondents can be identified in any published results.
Impact
The results will provide valuable insights for developing leadership practices and work environments that enhance employee wellbeing and performance. The study has scientific and societal significance both in Finland and internationally
Funding source
Ami Foundation
Contact persons
Merja Luostarinen
merja.luostarinen [at] tuni.fi
Research Survey: Values-Driven Leadership for High-performing and Happy teams
Welcome to the survey for the research Values-Driven Leadership for High-performing and Happy teams. Your workplace’s HR or Administration department has sent you an invitation to the first survey of our study and a link to this information sheet, as your workplace one of our partner organisations.
This research examines how modern, values-driven leadership influences high-performance and wellbeing in work communities. The survey explores respondents’ experiences of leadership and opportunities for influence, organisational values, qualities of work and the work environment, and how these factors impact the quality of work motivation, wellbeing and high-performance at work.
After reviewing this information sheet, you may contact the principal investigator if you have any questions (contact information is provided at the end of this sheet).
Research purpose
The ongoing transformation of working life places increasing demands on leadership. Modern leadership based on values can serve as a compass in navigating the change, as it has been shown to strengthen high-performance and wellbeing in work communities. However, research suggests that only a third of leaders lead values effectively, and little is known about the impact of different values and how they are realised in practice.
The purpose of this research is to generate new scientific information about how modern, values-driven leadership – implemented in daily practice – impacts high-performance and wellbeing in work communities. The research provides practical insights that can be used to develop working life and responds to a societal need for building sustainable work environments.
How is research data collected?
Research data is collected through electronic survey conducted in three phases, using a series of multiple-choice questions. Responding to the first survey will take about 10 minutes, the second around 15 minutes, and the third no more than 10 minutes. Participation is anonymous, but at the end of the first and the second survey you may indicate your interest in participating a follow-up survey by leaving your email address in an open field. Email addresses will be used solely for sending invitations to subsequent surveys and are permanently deleted after the final phase is completed. After data collection is finished, responses are pseudonymised, meaning that they cannot be linked to any individual.
In the research we examine causal relationships and therefore, each survey phase includes questions exploring experiences of leadership through social identity leadership survey, and also of sense of belonging through identification survey. Additionally, each survey enquires about wellbeing through work engagement survey, and experiences of motivation quality through autonomous motivation survey.
As background information we ask in the first survey the following: year of birth, gender, educational background, organisational tenure, professional group, main organisational unit, and the job position. In the follow-up survey we also enquire about potential changes in the latter three. The first survey is focused on leadership and opportunities for influence by exploring how also employees may have a positive impact in the work community, in addition to social identity leadership. The second survey examines organisational values via Integrated Work Values Scale, as well as work and work environment qualities through established surveys, such as Quality of work life survey. In this survey we also enquire the general importance of work as a background information. The last survey is focused on the impact of leadership, values and their realisation, that is, the experience of wellbeing and high-performance in work communities. It includes surveys on basic psychological need satisfaction and frustration, work goals and requirements, and creative performance.
Potential benefits and risks associated with the research
Research findings may be used to develop organisational leadership practices so that the practices have an improved impact on wellbeing and high-performance in work communities.
Participation in the research is completely voluntary. Participation does not involve any financial or social risks, or data-protection-related risks.
Confidentiality, data processing and retention
Data collected is processed confidentially in compliance with the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the data protection laws of Finland. The researchers adhere to ethical research practices and guidelines for safe data collection, processing and reporting. The direct identifier, email addresses, are stored separately in a password-protected file accessible only to the principal investigator. They are permanently deleted after the data collection ends. Survey responses from different phases of the data collection will be linked using a random code generated by the survey system. Only the principal investigator has access to this code and to the pseudonymised research data. She is also the only person to process the aggregated data. If necessary, also the research supervisor, Professor Mäkikangas and research group member, Senior Research fellow Turja, peer-reviewers of scientific publications and pre-examiners of the dissertation may be granted an opportunity to view the pseudonymised research data.
Data is stored securely in accordance with Tampere University guidelines in a cloud drive (OneDrive maintained by the University), which requires user-id, password and multi-factor identification to be accessed. Within five years of completing data collection, anonymised data is offered to be archived to the Finnish Social Science Data Archive, where it can be accessed only by registered customers for scientific research and master’s theses. In other words, the research data will be used only for scientific research articles and the archived material potentially also to master’s theses.
Protecting the privacy of participant individuals and organisations in research publications
Background variables will be aggregated so that no individual can be identified from the responses to the survey. All research findings will be reported in a way that ensures that neither individuals nor organisations can be recognised.
Research funding
Research is funded by Ami-foundation.
Voluntary participation
Research participation is completely voluntary. You may pause responding and return to the survey later. You may also stop responding entirely and thus withdraw your participation without any consequences by closing the electronic form without sending through the responses. However, the responses you have already given may be used in research.
Communication of research findings
The research findings will be published in scientific research articles, press releases, and potential articles for the general public. Additionally, the findings will be presented in scientific conferences and in events focused on working life development. Participating organisations will receive a summary of their own results. Organisational contact persons will decide how to communicate these results internally. Research findings will always be reported in a way that neither individuals nor organisations can be recognised.
Further use of the data
The principal investigator may use the data in more than one scientific research publications. Anonymised archival data may also be used by registered scholars at Finnish Social Science Data Archive for scientific research and / or master’s thesis.
More information
If you have any questions regarding the survey, please contact the principal investigator, whose contact you will find below.
Merja Luostarinen
Principal Investigator
Doctoral Researcher, Social Psychology
Tampere University, Work Research Centre
merja.luostarinen [at] tuni.fi, +358 4058 15045
Anne Mäkikangas
Supervisor of the Doctoral Research
Professor, Director of Work Research Centre
Tampere University
Values-Driven Leadership for High-performing and Happy teams
This privacy notices describes how we process your personal data in compliance with data pro-tection legislation. In data protection legislation, the term “data subject” refers to the person whose personal data are processed. In this privacy notice, we refer to data subject as “you” and controller as “we”.
This privacy notice may be updated or edited if necessary. You will be notified of any significant changes as mandated by data protection legislation.
This privacy notice came into force on 27.4.2026
1. Controller
The controller of the research project is:
an individual researcher. The research project will be conducted by the researcher identified below.
Merja Luostarinen
Tampereen yliopisto
Kalevantie 4 33100 TAMPERE
The research is funded by Ami-foundation grant.
The contact person for questions about data processing is Merja Luostarinen, Doctoral Researcher, who can be reached at merja.luostarinen [at] tuni.fi, and via +358 40 5815 045.
To call Tampere University’s switchboard, dial +358 (0) 294 52 11.
2. Scope and purpose of data processing
Name of the research project: Values-Driven Leadership for High-performing and Happy teams
This is a follow-up study that will last until 31.8.2031.
We will process your indirect personal data as part of a research project. The purpose of processing your indirect personal data is to conduct the research project specified above. By accounting for the indirect personal data in statistical analysis we ensure, that they do not affect the results. The email addresses collected from respondents interested in participating in follow-up studies will only be used to send the invitations for the follow-up studies.
The research project explores how the quality of leadership, employees’ opportunities for influence and different organisational values are reflected in work and work environment, and what kind of an impact do they have on the personnel and work community at large. During this research project, personal data will be processed only by the principal investigator, Merja Luostarinen. Additionally, the supervisor of her doctoral research, Professor Anne Mäkikangas, and the member of the research team, Senior Research Fellow Tuuli Turja, as well as peer-reviewers and the pre-examiners of her dissertation have the right to see the pseudonymised data, if needed.
The principal investigator Merja Luostarinen is responsible for overseeing the research project. Additionally, the supervisor of her doctoral research, professor Mäkikangas, and member of the research team, Senior Research Fellow Turja, participate in conducting the research project.
The research findings, reported in aggregate form so that individual research participants cannot be identified, will be published in relevant scientific journals. Articles or blogs for the general public may also be published based on the results.
3. Lawful basis for processing personal data
The lawful basis for processing your personal data is:
☒ a task carried out in the public interest
☒ scientific research
☒ archiving of research material
In case special categories of personal data (such as health data) will be processed, the lawful basis for processing is:
☒scientific research in the public interest
4. Sources and types of personal data
We will collect data from:
☒you as the data subject
We will process the following types of personal data:
☒ General personal data: email, indirect background information: year of birth, gender, educational background, importance of work in general, main organisational unit, professional group, organisational tenure, position at organisation.
☒ Special category data (sensitive personal data):
☒health data: Experience of work engagement and burnout.
We will process data on the following categories of data subjects:
☒research participants
5. Transfer and disclosure of personal data
☒Your personal data will not be transferred outside the EU/EEA.
Microsoft / TAU M365-environment (OneDrive) will act as personal data controller to the extent that personal data is being stored in Tampere University’s OneDrive-environment.
6. Protecting personal data
Your personal data will be protected using appropriate technical and organisational measures. We will protect your data through technical measures, including antivirus software, firewalls and regular software updates. Users who can access personal data are required to log in with a username and password or, in some cases, with multi-factor authentication.
We will also protect your data through organisational measures. Our staff, peer-reviewers and pre-examiners of the dissertation are obligated to maintain confidentiality, and access to data is restricted. If necessary, we will implement additional safeguards to protect data, such as sepa-rate storage locations.
Material will be:
☒ collected with direct identifiers
☒ direct identifiers are permanently deleted, i.e., data is pseudonymised after collection
7. Retention period for personal data
We will retain your personal data for only as long as necessary, as determined on a case-by-case basis. The retention period also depends on the requirements set out in data protection legislation. We will adhere to all applicable legislation when determining the retention period of personal data.
The pseudonymised research data will be retained as follows: in the principal investigator’s personal OneDrive, maintained by Tampere University, for conducting scientific research for no longer than five years since the data collection will be ended.
After the research project has been completed, the research records containing indirect person-al data will be:
☒ anonymised and archived to Finnish Social Science Data Archive without personally identifiable information. Finnish Social Science Data Archive will accord the anonymised data only to registered customers for scientific research and master’s thesis.
8. Profiling and automated decision-making
We will not use your personal data for profiling or automated decision-making.
9. Data subjects' rights and how to exercise them
Data protection legislation affords certain rights to data subjects, depending on the lawful basis for processing their personal data. Under certain circumstances, your rights may be restricted, for example, due to our legal obligations or if personal data are processed for scientific research, statistical or archiving purposes. If your rights have been restricted, we will implement appropriate and necessary technical and organisational measures to protect your privacy. As a data subject, you have the following rights which you can exercise by sending us a request.
Right of access
You have the right to request confirmation of whether we hold your personal data and to receive a copy of the data we hold.
Right to rectification
You have the right to request that any incorrect or incomplete personal data we hold about be revised or supplemented. You can also request to have any unnecessary personal data erased from our records.
Right to restrict processing
You may have the right to restrict the processing of your personal data in certain cases defined by law. For example, this right may apply if you believe the personal data we hold about you is incorrect or that your data are being processed in violation of data protection legislation, or if you have opposed the processing of your data.
Right to object
In certain circumstances, you have the right to object to the processing of personal data on grounds relating to your particular situation.
Right to data portability
Under certain circumstances, you have the right to request that the personal data you have pro-vided be transferred to another system.
Right not to be subject to automated decision-making
You have the right not to be subject to decisions based solely on automated processing (such as profiling) that produce legal effects concerning you or otherwise similarly and significantly affect you. However, there are exceptions to this prohibition.
Right to lodge a complaint with a supervisory authority
You have the right to lodge a complaint with a supervisory authority (Data Protection Ombudsman), if you believe that the processing of your personal data violates data protection legislation.
Office of the Data Protection Ombudsman
Street address: Lintulahdenkuja 4, FI-00530 Helsinki, Finland
Postal address: PO Box 800, FI-00531 Helsinki, Finland
Switchboard: +358 29 56 66700
Fax: +358 29 56 66735
Email address: tietosuoja [at] om.fi