Transformative Consumption Culture and Society

We are pioneers in developing marketing knowledge to transform marketplace actors and marketing logics towards sustainability and wellbeing. We study phenomena related to consumption, the marketplace and society within the research traditions of Consumer Culture Theory, Transformative Consumer/Service Research and Macromarketing.

Our passion is to advance theoretical thinking based on understanding the inherent complexities and dynamics of consumption at various levels of culture and society. Collaborators within and outside our discipline are invited to join us in scientifically ambitious research projects. 

As supervisors, we support doctoral students in developing a strong expertise in studying the inherent complexities and dynamics of consumption across individual, community and societal levels. We welcome new team members who use qualitative and interpretative research to engage with and contribute to relevant theories, such as Practice Theory and Assemblage Thinking, in specific topical areas including food, energy consumption, fashion, home, animals, or wellbeing.

Doctoral students are encouraged to take critical approaches in their research and explore a broad array of topics, addressing, for example: 

• What are the cultural processes catalyzing and challenging sustainable consumption in marketplaces? How to rethink marketing through understanding the complexities of the marketplaces?
• How to uncover the actions of market actors and their consequences beyond the boundaries of firms? How to rethink markets as heterogenous systems of various actors?
• How to strengthen the voice(s) of marginalized consumers? In what ways do dominant wellbeing paradigms align or conflict with the lived realities of marginalized consumer communities?

We help companies and non-profit actors to understand their markets and clarify their actions towards sustainable transformation. We partner with industries operating in areas such as food, energy, care for the elderly, animals, fashion, home, leisure, cultural heritage, and welfare technology. We are experts in communicating and popularizing topical research insights for wider audiences. We collaborate actively with media and policymakers seeking to enlighten the ambiguities of everyday consumption, especially from the viewpoints of sustainability and wellbeing 

The research program is led by Associate Professor Hanna Leipämaa-Leskinen.

Contact Information
Email: hanna.leipamaa-leskinen@uwasa.fi