Olli-Pekka Kauppila

I am an Assistant Professor of Organization and Management. Before starting in this position in 2014, I was a postdoctoral scholar at Aalto University (2011-2014). I received my Ph.D. from Aalto University in 2011, and M.Sc. from Turku School of Economics in 2005. In addition to my primary work experience, I have been a visiting scholar in multiple universities, including University of Maryland at College Park (2009), University of California, Irvine (2013-2014), and California State University, Fullerton (2017-2018).

My primary research area is organizational behavior, and I am particularly interested in topics related to leadership, individual creativity, motivation, group dynamics, social exchanges, and prosocial behaviors. I am also interested in strategy-making and other organizational factors shaping employees’ behavioral processes. Most of my research involves the analyses of nested data with multiple levels of analyses (e.g. individuals, work groups, and firms).

My current research project focuses on how employees develop and apply different strategic behavioral orientations toward brokerage and collaboration. Moreover, the project examines how these orientations influence various individual and collective outcomes in social network and organizational contexts. The project is entitled “The micro-mechanisms of brokerage: How employees’ personal attributes and behavioral strategies shape network structures and work behaviors in organizations,” and it has received a four-year funding (2017-2021) from the Academy of Finland.

At the Department of Management Studies, I teach “Organizational behavior” and “Principles of management.” I also teach leadership at Aalto Executive Education. My goal in teaching is to help students use research-based knowledge to make organizations more effective and better places to work.

Research interests

• Organizational behavior and leadership
• Creativity, innovation, proactiveness, and ambidextrous behavior at the individual level
• Strategy-making, knowledge sharing, social exchange relationships, brokerage behavior

Education

• Ph.D. (organization and management), Aalto University School of Business, 2011
• M.Sc. (economics and business administration), Turku School of Economics, 2005

Selected publications

• Kauppila, O-P., Bizzi, L., and Obstfeld, D. (forthcoming). “Connecting and creating: Tertius iungens, individual creativity, and strategic decision processes.” Strategic Management Journal.
• Kauppila, O-P. and Tempelaar, M. (2016). “The social-cognitive underpinnings of employees’ ambidextrous behavior and the supportive role of group managers’ leadership.” Journal of Management Studies, 53(6): 1019–1044.
• Kauppila, O-P. (2016). “When and how does LMX differentiation influence followers’ work outcomes? The interactive roles of one’s own LMX status and organizational context.” Personnel Psychology, 69(2): 357–393.
• Kauppila, O-P. (2016). “"Liking it," "faking it," and organizational learning,” Academy of Management Best Paper Proceedings. OB Division.
• Kauppila, O-P. (2015). “Alliance orientation and firm performance: using the resource-based theory to look inside the process black box.” Long Range Planning, 48(3): 151–167.
• Kauppila, O-P. (2014). “So, what am I supposed to do? A multilevel examination of role clarity.” Journal of Management Studies, 51(5): 737–763.
• Kauppila, O-P., Bizzi, L., Mäkelä, K, and Obstfeld, D. (2014). “Connecting and creating: Tertius iungens, individual creativity, and strategic decision processes,” Academy of Management Best Paper Proceedings. OMT Division.
• Kauppila, O-P., Rajala, R., and Jyrämä, A. (2011). “Knowledge sharing through virtual teams across borders and boundaries”. Management Learning, 42(4): 395–418.
• Kauppila, O-P. (2010). “Creating ambidexterity by integrating and balancing structurally separate interorganizational partnerships”. Strategic Organization, 8(4): 283–312. (Winner of the SO!WHAT award for the Best Paper published in 2010)
• Kauppila, O-P., Rajala, R., and Jyrämä A. (2010). “Antecedents of salespeople’s reluctance to sell radically new products”. Industrial Marketing Management, 39(2): 308–316.