Hanken School of Economics

ABSTRACT We show that the COVID‐19 pandemic threatened the supply chains, as reflected by disruptions in the flow of trade credit in Europe. Countries with less stringent initial policy responses experienced greater disruptions. For the European countries in the top tercile of relaxedness in terms of initial government policies after the World Health Organization (WHO) declared COVID‐19 a pandemic, we estimate that for every €100M in sales, firms extended around €4.6M–€7.5M less credit compared to firms in countries with more stringent initial responses. Deviations from EU/WHO‐recommended lockdown stringency seem to have created a public‐health policy uncertainty effect. This uncertainty effect was most pronounced among downstream firms, where trade‐credit disruptions were most severe.

Creativity and innovation, while closely related, are concepts often studied within separate academic traditions. Creativity, rooted in psychology, focuses on micro-level processes, whereas innovation, grounded in economics, management science, and organization theory emphasizes macro-level dynamics. This separation has resulted in limited cross-disciplinary dialogue and a fragmented understanding of their interdependencies. In this paper, we advocate for building metaphorical bridges between creativity and innovation research to foster a more integrated understanding of the production of “the novel and useful” knowledge in organizations. We begin by providing a historical overview of both fields, highlighting their origins, key insights, and methodological approaches. Using a framework that maps four research domains in a two (creativity-innovation) by two (micro-macro) table, we identify existing connections and propose pathways for a more integrated theoretical perspective. We underscore the importance of sustaining these bridges, arguing that such integration is crucial for the continued evolution of both fields. By promoting the integration of separate research streams, we aim to enhance conceptual clarity and address complex challenges that require a holistic approach. This paper introduces the special issue “Connecting Creativity and Innovation Research”, outlining future research directions and showcasing contributions that exemplify and advance this integrative effort. • Addressing the divide between creativity and innovation across academic literatures. • Facilitating a closer theoretical integration between creativity and innovation research. • Elaborating the micro-foundations of innovation. • Incorporating collective organizational levels into the study of creativity. • New approaches to bridge micro and macro in creativity and innovation research.

As remote collaboration becomes central to contemporary work, it is crucial to understand how digital tools shape user experience (UX) and work engagement. This study examines how product design teams use Miro, an online collaborative whiteboard (OCW), to support collaboration in remote and hybrid work contexts. We identify unity as a core positive experience, consisting of four experiential forms: aggregation, relationality, connection, and fun. Using a sociomaterial lens, we show how these experiences emerge not from tool features alone, but from their entanglement with situated practices. Our contributions are fivefold: we (1) conceptualize unity as a distinct dimension of positive UX; (2) offer an epistemological response to HCI’s call for relational, entangled approaches; (3) trace how unity emerges through sociomaterial configurations; (4) link these experiences to psychological need fulfilment and work engagement; and (5) demonstrate how positive UX arises through ordinary moments of digital work.

ABSTRACT Guided by the Actor‐Network Theory (ANT) perspective, this study explores user experiences with the perceived agency of algorithmic technology in the context of talent management (TM) decisions. Through a qualitative analysis of 11 client companies utilizing algorithmic TM decision‐making technology provided by an HR tech service firm, we identified divergent perceptions of algorithmic technology's agency. While some participants viewed the technology as enhancing decision quality and explainability by promoting objectivity and standardization, others perceived it as constraining managerial judgment and overlooking context‐specific, non‐quantifiable factors. These contrasting perceptions gave rise to three distinct behavioral responses—endorsing, conforming to, or undermining the technology's agency. In some cases, employees strategically adjusted their behaviors to align with algorithmic outputs, thereby reshaping the actor‐network and influencing TM decision‐making dynamics. This study contributes to the ANT perspective by showing how perceptions of agency and behavioral responses reconfigure human–technology networks, offering a relational understanding of algorithmic agency in organizational settings. It also contributes to the HRM and technology literature by examining how algorithmic technologies, as relational actors, influence managerial and employee responses, particularly in the management of high‐potential employees. Finally, it advances TM research by demonstrating how different organizational actors interpret and respond to algorithmic TM decisions, revealing how employees may strategically leverage such systems.

There is a lack of comprehensive guidance in service marketing literature on how restaurant managers can effectively design structures, allocate resources, and facilitate interactions to co-create value and foster engaging dining experiences. Through our theory-building research, we address this gap in the hospitality service marketing literature by introducing a new restaurant experience staging management model. This model not only identifies critical elements for cultivating engaging dining experiences but also outlines the executive processes involved in achieving this. Our approach integrates existing theoretical frameworks with practical insights gained from an action research methodology applied to three distinct case studies. We delineate three core staging management functions essential for the effective orchestration of restaurant experiences: leadership, artistic performance delivery and insight creation. We also introduce three organizational support practices that are needed for the maximally effective management of staging engaging restaurant experiences. • A novel service management model. • Staging of engaging restaurant experiences. • Staging Management functions and Organizational support.

Abstract Finland has a robust history in international peacekeeping extending from UN operations in the Middle East to nato -led missions in the Balkans and Afghanistan. Finland’s participation in international peacekeeping operations has been informed by the country’s foreign and security policy that has evolved from Cold War neutrality to recent nato -membership. Current geopolitical changes, including Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine, have redefined the Finnish security environment. It is topical to assess the drivers underlying Finnish peacekeeping policy and consider the future of Finnish peacekeeping. This study finds that, overall, Finnish participation has provided an important framework for integration with the country’s West European peers as well as for strengthening its transatlantic relations, especially after the end of the Cold War. Finland can be expected to continue to strengthen security cooperation based on aligned security interests on both a bilateral and multilateral basis within and beyond the nato framework. These pursuits will also inform future Finnish participation in international peacekeeping and other military crisis management.

ABSTRACT The adoption of technologies is critical for SMEs seeking to maintain competitiveness, particularly through improved supply chain management. While industry-level digitalization can either facilitate or constrain firm-level digitalization efforts, its role has received limited scholarly attention. This study investigates how the use of big data analytics in supply chain management is associated with SME profitability, and how this relationship varies by industry-level digitalization in terms of assets, usage, and labor. Drawing on survey data from 289 SMEs, supplemented with objective financial indicators and secondary data on industry digitalization, regression analysis reveals that the use of big data analytics in supply chain management significantly boosts SME profitability. The effect is most pronounced in industries characterized by high levels of digital stakeholder engagement (that is, usage), rather than other dimensions of digitalization. Our findings identify conditions under which investments in big data driven supply chains are most likely to yield financial returns.

At the time of writing, the war in Ukraine is entering its fourth year. So far, more than six million Ukrainian refugees have sought shelter in the European Union. In this paper, we study the experiences of liminality among the displaced Ukrainian community in Finland. This paper addresses the question: How do Ukrainian refugees seek to organize and make sense of their situation? Using a practice-based phenomenological approach, we identify three practices: integrating into Finnish society; gaining financial independence; and resisting separation from their former lives in Ukraine. Based on these findings, we offer two contributions to understanding liminality: first, that it emerges through a collapse of practical intelligibility; and second, that it becomes an unattainable embodied concern and a site of struggle. Our study re-theorizes liminality not as a fixed feature of certain contexts or boundaries, but as an ongoing process and lived experience.