CFP: Nordic Academy of Management Conference

The 25th Nordic Academy of Management Conference:

Nordic Energies
​​​​​​​(Nordiska Företagsekonomiska Föreningen/NFF)

22. – 24. August 2019
University of Vaasa, Finland

Please submit your abstract before February 14, 2019 at https://www.univaasa.fi/en/sites/nff2019/

Call for papers to Track 3.2
The Governance of Modern Universities

The track will focus on the governance of modern universities. Examples of questions for the track are:

  • How are external forces influencing the governance of modern universities?
  • How is quality control in universities changing?
  • How are university boards composed?
  • How are university leaders on different levels selected?
  • To what extent is the collegial model replaced by a managerial model?
  • How is the academic work and the professional foundation affected?
  • How are the implementation and development of QA and/or PM systems changing universities?
  • How the QA and/or PM systems affect scholarly work? To what extent and how are the support functions growing?
  • How has university governance developed over time?
  • How will audit society shape the future of universities?


The track intends to bring together Nordic scholars with a research interest in institutions of higher education and research with different perspectives on the above-described development. The track will welcome both theoretical contributions and empirical ones. For the latter international comparisons and perspectives are particularly welcome.


Track organizers:
Lars Engwall, Uppsala University, Sweden
Elin Funck, Linnaeus University, Växjö, Sweden,
Kirsi-Mari Kallio, The University of Turku, Finland
Tomi J. Kallio, Linnaeus University, Kalmar, Sweden


Call for papers to a Special Track:
Emotions within and between Organizations

Playfulness, fun, humour and the influence of positive and negative emotions on people are topics of multidisciplinary interest (e.g. Veatch 1998). Researchers study emotions in general, and playfulness, storytelling and humour in particular, at various (inter)organisational levels and in different contexts; e.g. management, business communication, advertising, and customer relationships (Duncan 1982; Romero & Pescosolido 2008; Tähtinen & Blois 2011; Hurmelinna-Laukkanen et al. 2016a; Hurmelinna-Laukkanen et al. 2016b; Vuorela 2005; Oikarinen 2018; Alatalo et al. 2018a; Söderlund et al. 2017). However, the importance and functions of positive and negative emotions within and between organizations and their stakeholders are not properly understood.

Employees’ emotions, such as joy or anger, and their wellbeing can influence, and they are visible for customers (see Alatalo et al. 2018b) and other stakeholders. In addition, the digitised environment raises new questions. How smart technologies with humorous elements can increase employees’ happiness (Andujar et al. 2017)? How humour can function in human-robot interactions (Niculescu et al. 2013)? How to engage stakeholders into humorous branding in social media (see Suomi et al, 2018)?
This track encourages researchers to investigate the different aspects of positive and negative emotions, humour, playfulness and storytelling in business, within organisations and in interorganisational relationships. We encourage studies that discuss but are not limited to the following topics:

  • The potential and different roles of emotions, playfulness, humour and company stories in creating and developing business opportunities, activities, models and offerings.
  • The significance of emotions in digitalized service environment (e.g. in digital services, digital service encounters) and in human-robot interaction.
  • The relationships between playfulness, work engagement & wellbeing at work and innovative behavior & performance inside organizations.
  • Societal issues, risks and potential of playfulness, humour and company stories in advertising and branding.
  • Roles and functions of emotions, humour, playfulness and company stories in (inter)organisational relationships.
  • Roles of emotions, humour, playfulness, fun and company stories as well as their connections to wellbeing in small business and entrepreneurship.


Track organizers:
Eeva-Liisa Oikarinen
, Assistant Professor, University of Oulu, Finland, eeva-liisa.oikarinen@oulu.fi
Jaana Tähtinen, Prof., University of Turku, TSE Pori, Finland, jaana.tahtinen@utu.fi
Taina Vuorela, Principal Lecturer, Oulu University of Applied Sciences, Finland, taina.vuorela@oamk.fi


For furter information:
https://www.univaasa.fi/en/sites/nff2019/