Minna Autio

To Consume or Not to Consume? Young people’s environmentalism in the affluent Finnish society

This article looks at Finnish young people’s conceptions of green consumerism. We examine first the discussion of the greening of youth in contemporary society on the basis of earlier studies.Then we present the results of qualitative analysis of the different data concerning environmental consumerism. The data were collected at upper secondary schools in five different locations in Finland. The analysis of the essays and group discussions revealed that young consumers consider green consumerism as recycling, waste management and buying environmentally sound products. However, the analysis of the stories revealed a variety of conceptions about what green consumerism means. In addition, the youngsters were not totally consistent in their thinking about the relationship between consumer behaviour and its consequences to nature.The most aware young people understand that something must be done if our aim is global sustainable development.

Bringing farm animal welfare to the consumer’s plate

Please note that this is a so-called personal version (author’s manuscript as accepted for publishing after the review process but prior to final layout and copyediting) of the article: Autio, Minna, Autio, Jaakko, Kuismin, Ari, Kylkilahti, Eliisa, Ramsingh, Brigit & Valros, Anna (2018) Bringing Farm Animal Welfare on the Consumers Plate – Transparency, Labelling and Consumer Education. In: The Business of Farm Animal Welfare. Nicky Amos & Rory Sullivan (eds.) Taylor & Francis / Routledge, 120–136.

Consumers purchasing new homes – trust and taste building through e-service and competence in the housing market

Our study examines the issues of how service company and customer experiences meet each other in service innovation, and how trust is negotiated in their interaction. We focus on a customer-oriented interior decorating e-service for clients developed by a construction company. Through qualitative material we analyse what constructs trust in the company service encounter. E-service is seen by the customers as a playful tool for visualisation and decision-making concerning their future homes, and by the company as a cost-effective and affordable tool for their clients. Consumer trust is built through company personnel competence, expertise and integrity, alongside with company brand, reputation and personified customer relations. However, trust in taste seems to be an integral part of home-related consumption. A consumer’s individual taste contests with the ‘average taste’ of companies and industry.

Young and Recognized in Service Interaction? Re-positioning Youth and Adulthood with Performance Tactics and Strategic Laughter:

Young consumers hold an iconic position in post-industrial cultures. In spite of youth idealization in consumer culture, we know little of how youth is situated in everyday interactions in service culture. In our study, we focus on age-related power structures in service encounters. We argue that customer service interaction is built on the norm of an adult order; that is, to achieve an appreciated position as a customer, young people are required to act like ‘middle-aged’ consumers. To gain recognition, young consumers use resistance tactics: They create co-performing teams together with adults and modify their own performance towards adulthood by masking signs of youth. The findings suggest that young people may also resist the dominant adult order; laughter and smiling express a strategy that re-positions adults into a less powerful position in the service environment. The study shows that young and adult categories in service interaction are constantly under re-negotiation.

Sustainability-Driven New Business Models in Wood Construction Towards 2030

In the transition towards a renewable material -based bioeconomy in Europe, growing interest is being directed towards wooden multistorey construction (WMC) as a sustainable housing solution. We analyse the changing WMC business, and the involved value networks towards 2030 based on service business model literature, with a focus also on consumer-driven models. Methodologically our study uses a three-round Delphi process focusing on Finland as a country where national bioeconomy strategy specifically acknowledges wood-based construction. Based on our results, the primary reasons for wood utilization are supporting the bioeconomy strategy with the use of renewable materials and addressing indoor air quality concerns. This happens instead of enhancing intrinsic motivation towards sustainable bioeconomy as such. Therefore, transforming business models towards sustainability calls for strengthening the positive image of the wood construction industry, especially among a largely neglected stakeholder group, i.e. residents. To achieve business model development, the industry needs to strengthen its orchestration of partner networks and capabilities, by including not only new co-creators as a part of the actor-to-actor network, but also residents as end-users.

Pedagogics in Home Economics Meet Everyday Life

The purpose of this chapter is to describe home economics as both an academic discipline and a science. First, it provides insights into home economics education in the Finnish and Japanese contexts by giving examples of both cultures. Second, it reviews the previous research on improving the quality of learning in an academic context (i.e., in higher education) by stressing the pedagogical and science educational approach.