Jari Hakanen is a Research Professor at the Finnish Institute of Occupational Health and is docent of social psychology at the University of Helsinki. He has previously worked as a research director at the University of Helsinki researcher collegium and as a researcher at STAKES (the National Institute for Health and Welfare). Jari also has experience as an adult educator. He has had a long career in Finland and abroad as a researcher, leader of research projects and educator in the fields of work and coping at work. At the moment Jari’s areas of interest include positive psychology, work and family, wellbeing at work, work engagement and work exhaustion. Alongside research Jari has always taken part in development work and training in organisations as well as working with the media.
What are your strengths as a SWiPE researcher?
“I’m a social psychologist and have been researching work phenomena from the wellbeing, meaningfulness and working life balance perspectives for a long time. Lately I’ve been studying proactive and flexible activity and attitudes of workers themselves when they deal with change. Until now the platform economy has been largely studied on a society or phenomena level. I hope to contribute an understanding of people as knowing, initiative taking and meaning seeking, who even in the emerging platform economy want to feel well and work hard doing something they enjoy. My research especially looks at positive phenomena in working life and I want to be contributing a mental staying-power perspective to the many challenges posed by the platform economy.”
What topics would you like to see discussed because of SWiPE research?
“I wish that we are able to concretise what the platform economy means for people working in the public and private sectors, and what it will be to live a good life and to find one’s place in working life. It would be great if we can identify opportunities in the platform economy that are open to all Finns, and not merely to a few select achievers.”
