STRESS AND INTERNATIONAL ENTREPRENEURHSIP: The dark side of international entrepreneurship

Entrepreneurship attracts people with high job satisfaction and financial independence. Unfortunately, being deceived by this image, people do not pay attention to side effects of entrepreneurship. This ignorance usually turns into devastating results for entrepreneur’s health and venture performance. Therefore, it is required to seek ways to avoid these situations. The interest of the study lies in understanding of stress influence on international entrepreneurs by considering stress as a negative side effect of international entrepreneurship. To cover the concept of entrepreneurial stress completely, the study was divided into three section presented by following research questions: 1. What are the antecedents of entrepreneurial stress? 2. What are the consequences of entrepreneurial stress? 3. What coping strategies are applied to address entrepreneurial stress? Systematic literature review has been chosen as scientific approach to answer above questions due to the reason that it enables to minimise inconsistencies of both concepts of international entrepreneurship and stress. This method has afforded an opportunity to distinguish such stress causes as role conflict, overload, and ambiguity. Additionally, the study has covered the notion of stress moderators. The author argues that entrepreneurial traits, venture environment, and social support can have influence on degree of stress perception. Further, it has been proven that unaddressed stress could lead to reduction of entrepreneur’s psychological and physiological health. It should be taken into consideration that degree of both job satisfaction and performance would depend on the level of perceived stress. The last part of study emphasises the coping strategies. The author argues that it is important for an international entrepreneur to comprehend his or her and others’ emotions in order to overcome negative consequences of stress. In addition, the author suggests that an international entrepreneur needs to practise job sharing to reduce the amount of work to be completed. Moreover, it is believed that job sharing can help to overcome work-family conflict that prevails among entrepreneurs. The author anticipates that results of study can be beneficial for entrepreneurs who aim to achieve great results.

Towards sustainable transport: A comparison of demographic and behavioural characteristics of Finnish and international car sharing users

Strong evidence suggests that the climate is changing and that these changes are largely caused by human activities. A consensus exists among researchers that human activity is causing global warming and that actions to mitigate global warming need to be taken swiftly. The transportation sector, which relies heavily on fossil fuel burning and primarily oil, is one of the big contributors to air pollution problems at local, regional and global levels. It is the fastest growing source of greenhouse gas emissions and is estimated to be responsible for nearly a quarter of global energyrelated carbon dioxide emissions. Car sharing is a mobility solution encouraging its users to decrease private car usage in favour of communal transit and environmental goals. The idea of car sharing originates from the aspiration to decrease personal car ownership and to reduce vehicle distance travelled. This thesis seeks to complement the understanding of Finnish car sharing users and their usage through better categorization. Through better categorization and segmentation of Finnish car sharing users the thesis seeks to provide information for improved marketing insight. Research is done on the demographic and behavioural characteristics of Finnish car sharing users and they are compared with international findings about the characteristics of International car sharing users. The main research problem is Are Finnish car sharing users similar to international ones? A theoretical research framework on the determinants of individual car sharing usage is built based on international research about demographic and behaviouristic characteristics. After this a quantitative survey is performed to the customers of a Finnish car sharing organization. The data analysed in the thesis consist out of 532 answers received from the car sharing organizations customers. The data is analysed with descriptive and other exploratory methods, which create an understanding of Finnish car sharing users. At the end of the analysis the demographic and behavioural characteristics of Finnish car sharing users are compared with international ones. The research findings of the thesis indicate that the demographic and behavioural characteristics of Finnish car sharing usage largely follow those of their international counterparts. Thanks to the thesis results the car sharing organization is able to better target their customers through improved marketing insight.

Tutors as mediators of exchange student experiences: evaluation of the international student tutor system at the University of Turku

As academic student mobility is increasing, improving the functionality of international operations is recognised as a competitive advantage at tertiary education institutions. Although many scholars have researched the experiences of exchange students, the role of student tutors and their contribution to exchange students’ experiences is still an unknown factor. This research examines international tutoring at the University of Turku, and aims to understand better the way tutoring contributes to exchange experiences and to explore the functionality of the tutor system and discover areas for improvements. To achieve these goals, the research seeks to answer the fundamental research question: What is the role of tutors in mediating exchange experiences? The theoretical framework combines literature on mediating exchange experiences, the phenomenon of studying abroad, the process of adaptation, the importance of cross-cultural communication, and the role of student tutors as mediators. Based on the literature review, a theoretical model for studying the mediation of exchange experiences is introduced. The model’s applicability and validity is examined through a case study. Three methods were used in the empirical research: surveys, participant observations, and interviews. These methods provided extensive data from three major parties of the tutor system: tutors, exchange students, and the international office. The findings of the research reveal that tutoring – instrumental leading and social and cultural mediating – generates both negative and positive experiences depending on the individuals’ expectations, motivations, relationships, and the nature of the tutoring. Although functional, there are a few weaknesses in the tutor system. Tutors tend to act as effective instrumental leaders, but often fail to create a friendship and contribute to the exchange students’ experience through social and cultural mediation, which is significantly more important in the exchange students’ overall experience in terms of building networks, adapting, gaining emotional experiences, and achieving the stage of personal development and mental change. Based on the weaknesses, three improvements are suggested: (1) increasing comprehensive sharing of information, effective communication, and collective cooperation, (2) emphasising the importance of social and cultural mediation and increasing the frequency of interaction between tutors and exchange students, and (3) improving the recruitment and training, revising the process of reporting and rewarding, and finally, enhancing services and coordination.