Department of Management Studies
The Department of Management Studies offers a dynamic environment for scholarship and learning.
Qual+
The Qual+ center (est. 2023) advances greater cooperation and capacity building around topics of qualitative methodologies within the School of Business at Aalto, and leverages Aalto’s world class qualitative research skills internationally.
About Qual+
Qual+ promotes methodological and theoretical pluralism in management studies and invites all forms of qualitative research, including mixed and merged methods.
The center's main objectives include advancing methodological connections across researchers, helping researchers learn and develop new methodologies, promoting multidisciplinary dialogue concerning the use of qualitative methodologies, and exploring future trends in qualitative methods.
The center brings researchers together by organizing seminars, workshops, and community-building events. It builds on a long tradition of qualitative research scholarship at the School of Business (and its predecessor, the Helsinki School of Economics) and leverages Aalto’s world-class qualitative research skills internationally.
Anything you'd like to share with the Qual+ community? Reach out to qual-plus@aalto.fi
Let us know if you have relevant news you'd like us to share through our mailing list, newsletter and/or LinkedIn page.
We are happy to spread the word about upcoming events, calls-for-paper, conference calls, or courses; or new interesting articles or books you have come across – or published!
Read the latest newsletter below!
Upcoming events
Qual+ seminar: Why should we study industries, and how?
A seminar with Professor Emerita Eleanor Westney on incorporating industry more effectively into our research.
Qual+ x CARMA symposium: Advancements in Qualitative Research Methods
A two-day symposium consisting of two methods workshops and one paper development workshop.
Qual+ x CARMA course: Introduction to Qualitative Methods: Ethnography
A three-day course with Professor Michael Pratt (Boston College) on qualitative methods, ethnography in particular.Courses
When: 12–17 June 2026
Grading: Pass/Fail
Credits: 6–9 ECTS
Teacher/instructor: Prof. Jo Angouri
The course provides an overview of theory and method for discourse research. It is structured in two parts, a theoretical and an empirical one; for the latter, the students design and carry out a research project. Through class meetings and independent learning, the course familiarises students with the principles and practices of designing a discourse project; collecting data; analysing interaction; and presenting and writing up findings.
The aims of the course are:
- To examine critically how different theoretical and methodological approaches in discourse studies help us understand, describe and interpret language use in different multilingual and multicultural contexts,
- To extend and develop the students knowedge of issues surrounding discourse in societ ,
- To develop a critical awareness of the relationship between the features of language and the social context at both micro and macro levels,
- To extend and develop the students knowedge of ethnographic research.
Apply for the course:
Please register by sending email to Jo Angouri (J.Angouri@warwick.ac.uk) and course assistant Jhoomer Chandra (jhoomer.chandra@aalto.fi) with very basics about your project (title/year of study). Aalto students also need to register through SISU closer to the course. (The registration period through SISU starts from 17th of March 2026 and ends on 7th of April 2026).
Course website: https://sisu.aalto.fi/student/courseunit/aalto-CU-1150974342-20240801/brochure
When: 14–16 April 2026
Where: Meitner (Room 1571), Kide
Grading: Pass/Fail
Credits: 6 ECTS
Teacher/instructor: Prof. Henrikki Tikkanen and Prof. Antti Sihvonen
This course introduces the participants to the multi-faceted world of how various historical approaches and related historical methodology can be applied to contemporary business research. Thus, the course is both meta-theoretical and pragmatic. Three examples of historical studies conducted by the teachers (two on the evolution of the Nokia corporation, and a third one on the history of doctoral education at the Helsinki School of Economics/Aalto University
Upon completion of the course, students will:
- Understand how the historical method can be applied to the study of diverse topics in business research,
- Understand the development of management & organizational history as a special field of economic and business history,
- Understand how central concepts in strategy, management & organizational studies, marketing, accounting and finance and other business disciplines (e.g. dynamic capabilities, market orientation, the notion of international business etc.) have evolved and how they have been applied in longitudinal/historical research,
- Have the capacity to benchmark their own research ideas to different historical methodologies applied in extant studies (studies discussed in class, and studies reported in some of the articles, e.g. the traditional realist approaches of Lamberg et al. 2021; 2009; Lamberg and Peltoniemi, 2020; Jacobides 2007, interpretive history of Lamberg and Pajunen 2010 or the post-structural approach by Karababa and Ger, 2011).
EIBA Methods Summer School 2025 | Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, and Big Data: Opportunities and Challenges for International Business Research
When: 1–5 September 2025
Where: WU-Vienna
Organizers: Jonas Puck jonas.puck@wu.ac.at and Jakob Müllner jakob.muellner@wu.ac.at
Qual+ course | Learning to See: A Course in Ethnography and Discourse Analysis (6 ECTS)
This course offers doctoral students a blend of theoretical and practical insights into ethnography and discourse analysis. Through interactive sessions, independent assignments, and collaborative projects, you'll gain hands-on skills in research design, data collection and analysis, and explore the impact of language on identity, interaction, and power dynamics in diverse contexts.
When: 2–16 May 2025
Where: Aalto University School of Business
Teacher: Professor Jo Angouri
Kataja course | Feminist Theories and Organization Studies: Dialogue on New Bases (6 ECTS)
When: 4–6 June 2025
Where: Pyhätunturi (organized by University of Lapland)
Instructors: Alison Pullen (Professor of Gender, Work and Organization, Macquarie University, Australia), Susan Meriläinen (Professor of Management, University of Lapland), Saija Katila (Adjunct professor, Senior Lecturer, Aalto School of Business)
Course coordinator: Ilmari Miettunen (University of Lapland)
2–6 September 2026 | EIASM/EDEN course: Advanced Doctoral Seminar on Case Studies in Business and Management Research (6 ECTS)
When: 2–6 September 2024
Where: Aalto University School of Business
Instructors: Professor Rebecca Piekkari, Aalto University School of Business, and Associate Professor Catherine Welch, The University of Sydney Business School
Course coordinator: Arrieta Valentina, Aalto University School of Business
5–7 June 2024 | Qual+ workshop: Qualitative Comparative Analysis (QCA)
When: 5–7 June 2024
Where: Online & Aalto University School of Business
Instructor: Peer C. Fiss, Professor of Management & Organization and Sociology at the University of Southern California, U.S.
15–21 May 2024 | Qual+ course: Learning to See: A Course in Ethnography and Discourse Analysis (6–9 ECTS)
When: 15–21 May 2024
Where: Aalto University School of Business
Instructor: Professor Jo Angouri
9–11 April 2024 | Philosophical Underpinnings and Ongoing Debates of Marketing and Consumer Research (6 / 7,5 ECTS)
When: 9–11 April 2024
Where: Aalto University School of Business
Course instructors: Henrikki Tikkanen (Professor of Marketing and Consumer Research at Aalto University School of Business), Joel Hietanen (Professor of Socio-technical Change in Consumer Society at Centre for Consumer Society Research, University of Helsinki) and Jacob Östberg (Professor of Marketing at Stockholm Business School, Stockholm University, Sweden)
Reading tips
Writing the fascination for extreme contexts: Darwin’s reverie.
Musca Neukirch, G., & Gherardi, S. (2026). Culture and Organization, 1–25.
Full paper available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/14759551.2025.2593983
Collectively Committing to ‘What Is Interesting’ in Qualitative Research: A methodological application of interactional sociolinguistics.
Kibler, E., Salmivaara, V., Lutman-White, E., Farny, S., & Angouri, J. (2026). Organization Studies.
Full paper available at:https://doi.org/10.1177/01708406261418190
What if the Case is ‘Elusive’? Methodological Challenges for Qualitative Research in International Relations and Global Governance.
De Donà, M. (2026). International Journal of Qualitative Methods, 25.
Full paper available at:
https://doi.org/10.1177/16094069261429329
Near-Histories and Strategy Emergence: A Microhistorical Perspective
Juha-Antti Lamberg, Eero Vaara, Pasi Nevalainen, and Henrikki Tikkanen. (2026). Administrative Science Quartetly, 71(1).
The paper sheds light on how even unrealized strategic plans, so-called near-history episodes, can generate unexpected processes and dynamics that ultimately shape organizational trajectories. Using a microhistorical lens, the authors examine Nokia’s evolution to explain how anticipation, emotion, and network mobilization play a critical role in strategy emergence.
https://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:fe4d8d93-40e1-42c5-8df7-85f4169fc97
Cultivating insightful theory-building in qualitative research
by Ewald Kibler (Aalto University), Eero Vaara (Saïd Business School, University of Oxford) and Lauri Laine (Aalto University), published in the Journal of Business Venturing Insights (vol. 24) in 2025.
In this 10th Anniversary Special Collection paper, authors argue for moving beyond the production of ‘stand-alone’ theoretical models toward what they call insightful theory-building, a mode of inquiry that prioritises the development of clear, actionable insights that others can build upon.
Handbook of Feminist Research Methodologies in Management and Organization Studies
Cambridge Handbook of Qualitative Digital Research
Qualitative Management Research in Context Data Collection, Interpretation and Narrative
Handbook of Qualitative Research Methods for Information Systems: New Pespectives
The SAGE Handbook of Qualitative Research (6th ed)
Philosophy and Management Studies: A Research Overview
The Research Impact Agenda: Navigating the Impact of Impact
Routledge Companion to Organizational Diversity Research Methods
Past Qual+ events
Past seminars, workshops, courses and other events organized by Qual+ or relevant to the Qual+ community.
Qual+ team
Alice Wickström, Chair
DMS, BIZ
Marjo-Riitta Diehl
DMS, BIZ
Sampsa Hyysalo
DD, ARTS
Saija Katila
DMS, BIZ
Ulla-Maija Uusitalo
Aalto Executive Education
Frank Martela
DIEM, SCI
Johanna Moisander
DMS, BIZ
Antti Rousi
Aalto Data Agents, RES
Timo Vuori
DMS, BIZ & DIEM, SCI
Henri Weijo
DM, BIZ
Saku Mantere, Chair
McGill University, Canada
Catherine Cassell
Durham University, UK
Agnieszka Chidlow
University of Birmingham, UK
Joep Cornelissen
Erasmus University, Netherlands
Ibrat Djabbarov
Imperial College London, UK
Silvia Gherardi
University of Trento, Italy
Michael Pratt
Boston College, USA
Eero Vaara
Oxford University, UK
Maxim Voronov
York University, Canada
Catherine Welch
Trinity College Dublin, Ireland
Jo Angouri
Maria Andrea De Villa
Marjo-Riitta Diehl
Saku Mantere
Eero Vaara
Timo Vuori
School of Business
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