Browse, play, stress, repeat : extending the view of technostress and coping in smartphone use, social media interactions, and digital gaming

Tässä väitöskirjassa tutkitaan teknostressiä ja siihen liittyviä hallintakeinoja. Teknostressi määritellään yksilön kokemaksi stressiksi, joka aiheutuu informaatioteknologian (IT) käytöstä. Tutkimuksessa keskitytään erityisesti IT:n käyttöön vapaa-ajalla ja henkilökohtaisiin tarkoituksiin, kuten älypuhelimen selaamiseen ajankuluksi, sosiaalisen median käyttöön yhteydenpitoon ja digitaalisten pelien pelaamiseen viihteen vuoksi. Teknostressin syntymisen ja sen kokemiseen liittyvien hallintakeinojen ymmärtäminen on tärkeää, sillä on näyttöä siitä, miten teknostressi aiheuttaa merkittäviä ongelmia yksilöille, organisaatioille ja yhteiskunnalle niin töissä kuin vapaa-ajallakin. Tämä väitöskirja laajentaa aiempaa ymmärrystä selittämällä teknostressin taustatekijöitä kognitiivisten ja käyttäytymiseen liittyvien näkökulmien kautta, teknostressin ja hallintakeinojen sosiaalista dynamiikkaa sekä yksilöiden tavoitteiden ja niihin liittyvien hallintakeinojen roolia teknostressiprosessissa. Lisäksi väitöskirja tarkastelee teknostressiä sekä negatiivisesta että positiivisesta näkökulmasta huomioiden tilanteet, joissa IT:n käyttö joko uhkaa tai positiivisella tavalla haastaa käyttäjiä. Väitöskirja koostuu kuudesta artikkelista, joita varten kerättiin ja analysoitiin kolme laadullista aineistoa (30 haastattelua älypuhelimen ja sosiaalisen median käyttäjien kanssa; 22 haastattelua digitaalisten pelien pelaajien kanssa; 5120 sosiaalisen median kommenttia peliyhteisöstä). Näiden pohjalta väitöskirjan löydökset edistävät keskustelua IT:n ”pimeästä puolesta” selittämällä, miten käyttäjien kognitiiviset ja käyttäytymiseen liittyvät tekijät vaikuttavat teknostressiin. Väitöskirja esittää useita teoreettisia kontribuutioita, kuten uusia teknostressin taustatekijöitä, teknostressin ja hallintakeinojen sosiaalisen dynamiikan laajentamista sekä lähestymistavan, jossa teknostressin seurauksia tarkastellaan tavoitteiden estymisen näkökulmasta ja teknostressin torjumista tavoitteiden suojaamisena. Lisäksi väitöskirja laajentaa teknostressin tutkimusta digitaaliseen pelaamiseen, jossa kilpailu ja yhteistyö mahdollistavat ainutlaatuisten teknostressitekijöiden syntymisen. Käytännön näkökulmasta väitöskirja tarjoaa ehdotuksia teknostressin lieventämiseen ja IT:n tasapainoisempaan sisällyttämiseen ihmiselämään sekä töissä että vapaa-ajalla.This dissertation investigates technostress and coping with it. Technostress is defined as an individual’s experience of stress resulting from information technology (IT) use. The specific focus is on voluntary IT use for leisure and personal purposes, such as browsing smartphones to pass time, using social media to connect with others, and playing digital games for entertainment. Understanding the emergence of technostress and the ways to cope with it is crucial, as there is extensive evidence on how technostress presents significant issues for individuals, organizations, and societies across work and non-work contexts. This dissertation extends previous understandings by explaining technostress antecedents from the perspective of cognitive and behavioral aspects, the social dynamics of how technostress and coping unfold, and the perspective of individuals’ goals and related coping strategies in the technostress process. Moreover, the dissertation examines technostress through both negative and positive lenses, where IT use threatens or challenges users, respectively. The dissertation consists of six articles, for which three qualitative datasets were collected and analyzed (30 interviews with smartphone/social media users; 22 interviews with digital gamers; and 5120 social media comments from a gaming community). Based on these, the findings contribute to the ongoing discourse about the “dark side of IT” by explaining how users’ cognitive and behavioral patterns affect technostress and how users cope with its consequences. The dissertation proposes several theoretical contributions, including the identification of new antecedents of technostress, an understanding of the social dynamics of technostress and coping, and a novel focus on goal hindrances as technostress consequences and coping as goal shielding. Furthermore, the dissertation expands technostress research into the area of digital gaming, where competition and cooperation enable the emergence of unique technostressors. Practical implications for IT users, service providers, employers, and decision-makers are discussed, offering strategies to mitigate technostress, and promoting a more balanced integration of IT in both leisure and professional contexts

Crossing boundaries : pre-service teachers' situated and imagined views of socioemotional competence and dialogicality

Pre-service teachers often hold idealistic or static views of socioemotional competence. More research is needed on their situated reflections and imagined futures. This study focuses on pre-service secondary teachers' situated and imagined views of the socioemotional and dialogical dimensions of becoming and being a teacher. The study took place within multidisciplinary collaboration, online teaching, and the COVID pandemic. Fourteen pre-service teachers' interviews were analyzed with reflexive thematic analysis, applying the concept of boundary crossing. Our findings indicated three boundaries: between (1) disciplines, (2) online and face-to-face practices, and (3) being a student and being a teacher. In their situated views, pre-service teachers crossed disciplinary boundaries in collaboration with the help of social cohesion, perceived a threshold in online interaction, and held a normative conception of talkativeness. In their imagined futures, they struggled to specify socioemotional competence, emphasized challenging situations as a boundary, and expressed dialogical and monological voices regarding teachers' competences. There were tensions at the boundary between situated and imagined views, indicating idealized beliefs. Implications include providing safe spaces and time for collaborative boundary crossing and critical reflection. Our study addresses teachers' socioemotional competence and dialogicality amid crises and further theorizes the boundary between the situated and the imagined.peerReviewe

Computational insight into the selectivity of γ-valerolactone hydrodeoxygenation over Rh(111) and Ru(0001)

The observed difference in the selectivity towards alkane, ketone, and alcohol hydrodeoxygenation products over Ru and Rh catalysts is explored using a combination of density functional theory and microkinetics. Using γ-valerolactone as a model compound, we investigate the reaction mechanism in order to identify selectivity determining species. The effect of the coadsorbed water molecule as well as the higher adsorbate surface coverage on reaction barriers and energies is explored as well. The performed calculations suggest that the desired alkane product is formed from a ketone intermediate on Ru, and through both ketone and alcohol on Rh, although the selectivity towars alkane on Rh is much lower than on Ru.peerReviewe

Spatiotemporal dynamics of abstract concept processing : An MEG study

Our current understanding of how linguistic concepts are represented and retrieved in the brain is largely based on studies using concrete language, and only few studies have focused on the neural correlates of abstract concepts. The role of the motor system, besides the classical language network, has been intensively discussed in action-related concrete concepts. To advance our understanding of spatiotemporal dynamics underlying abstract concept processing, our study investigated to what extent language and motor regions are engaged in the processing of abstract concepts vs. concrete concepts. We used concrete, metaphorical, and abstract phrases as stimuli, creating a graded continuum of abstractness. Neuromagnetic signals were recorded from 26 Chinese native speakers using a 306-channel whole-head magnetoencephalography (MEG) system. Cluster-based permutation F-tests were carried out on the amplitude of source waveform for individual language and motor regions of interest (ROIs) in the three consecutive time-windows (200-300, 300-400, and 400-500 ms). Results showed that, compared with concrete and metaphorical phrases, abstract phrases evoked significantly weaker activation in the left posterior part of superior temporal sulcus (STS) at 200-300 ms, and significantly stronger activation in the left anterior temporal pole (TP) at 300-400 ms. We found no significant differences in the involvement of motor ROIs across conditions. Our results suggest that concrete concept processing engages more the posterior STS in an earlier time window, while abstract concept processing relies more strongly on the anterior TP in a later time window. Results are discussed by revisiting the ATL (anterior temporal lobe)-hub hypothesis and the novel definition of concrete and abstract concepts.peerReviewe

Introduction to Rescaling Sustainability Transitions

Sustainability transitions are employed as a key conceptual term in science, politics and societal debate. While often employed as an umbrella term for policy programmes aiming for a more environmentally and socially conscious shift of societal conduct, the understanding of its variegated processes has sparked an array of epistemological frameworks and approaches. Much research is criticised for an insensitivity to the socio-spatial complexities and multi-scalar relations of becoming, and the domination of large-scale, centralised and urban-oriented socio-economic development pathways calls for a rescaling of sustainability transitions with small-scale, localised and rural approaches. The rescaling of sustainability transitions in this sense plays out in multiple forms and rather than confining research to a streamlined conceptual frame, we see value in drawing on partially aligned, yet diverse accounts. Through engagement with different shades of rescaling, this book aims at a deeper, more diverse understanding of how sustainability transitions manifest in different spatial contexts, are framed by multi-scalar and continuously shifting socio-spatial relations and the role of (contested) spatial imaginaries on the capacities for ‘rescaled’ future trajectories.peerReviewe

Introduction of the Digital Gaming Relationship

In recent decades, there has been a growing interest in studying the appeal of digital games. However, there is still a call for further research, especially on the theoretical and methodological advancements. Hence, a novel approach and a concept of the Digital Gaming Relationship (DGR) is presented. The DGR model is adapted from earlier work on physical activity and with the central concept as “meaning,” it provides an alternative perspective to motivation-oriented literature for the field of game studies. With this approach, the fundamental view is that each person has a varying relationship with digital games and gaming over their life span. The relationship builds on the individual’s encounters with the social world of digital gaming and its cultural meanings. In the long term, accruing digital gaming-related knowledge, experiences, and emotional connections contributes to a rich tapestry of meaning, thus creating a deep and meaningful relationship capable of shaping one’s actions, behaviors, and even identity. The framework theorizes the mechanisms of an individual’s socialization process to the digital gaming world and illustrates that the relationship with digital games includes much more than just playing them. In this article, the theoretical roots and key concepts of the DGR are introduced, and the practical applicability of the approach is discussed.peerReviewe

Lower parasite pressure in invasive freshwater bivalves than in sympatric native Unionidae mussels in southern European lakes

The Enemy Release Hypothesis (ERH) proposes that the success of bioinvasions is attributable to lower enemy pressure on invasive species compared to native ones, giving a competitive advantage for invaders. In line with the hypothesis, we previously observed in northern European bodies of fresh water that invasive bivalves were subject to lower parasite pressure than sympatric native mussels. Here, we investigated ERH in three southern European lakes, where the native mussels are rapidly declining and being replaced by non-native bivalves. In total, 679 bivalves (n of individuals per species per lake varying from 12 to 187) were collected during 2016–2018. Ten parasite taxa were found. The mean lake-specific number of parasite taxa in the native mussels (Anodonta exulcerata, A. cygnea, A. anatina and Unio elongatulus) was 2.6 times that in the invasive bivalves (Dreissena polymorpha, Corbicula fluminea and Sinanodonta woodiana). Similarly, the mean lake-specific sum of prevalences of infection by different parasite taxa in the native mussels was 3.4 times that in the invasive bivalves. Notable was the complete lack of parasites in C. fluminea. Thus, the results supported the Enemy Release Hypothesis and were in accordance with previous results from northern Europe, suggesting, on average, a lower parasite pressure in invasive bivalves than in sympatric native mussels. As parasites are usually harmful, this may contribute to the observed successful invasion of non-native freshwater bivalves in Europe.peerReviewe

Conclusion : Lessons Learnt and Future Avenues for ArtsBased Approaches in Applied Language Studies for Social Justice

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The relationship of digital transformation and corporate sustainability : Synergies and tensions

Scholars within management disciplines have shown a growing interest in digital transformation and sustainability phenomena to address global societal challenges. Indeed, previous studies have investigated the initial analysis of the intersection between these two emerging and intertwined topics. However, there has been no comprehensive or critical analysis of the relationships among these concepts. Nevertheless, a clear understanding of this phenomenon is key to developing rigorous and meaningful knowledge and enabling future research. Our critical review analyses 91 articles on digital transformation and sustainability research to address this issue. The findings propose a synthesis of the definition types of digital transformation and sustainability in four categories, from which only 16 articles show a relationship between both concepts. This study theoretically contributes to management research by uncovering issues and assumptions around the conceptualizations of digital transformation and sustainability at the corporate level. By doing so, we present a consolidation of conceived knowledge and clarify these interrelated concepts. Moreover, understanding and assessing these relationships will lead to a future research agenda and implications for practitioners.peerReviewe

Enhancing Productivity with AI During the Development of an ISMS : Case Kempower

Investing in an Information Security Management System (ISMS) enhances organizational competitiveness and protects information assets. However, introducing an ISMS consumes significant resources; for instance, implementing an ISMS according to the ISO27001 standard involves documenting 116 different controls. This paper discusses how Kempower, a Finnish company, has effectively used generative AI to create and implement an ISMS, significantly reducing the resources required. This research studies how the use of generative AI can enhance the process of creating an ISMS. We conducted seven semi-structured interviews held with various stakeholders of the ISMS project, who had varying levels experience in cyber security and AI.peerReviewe