The Service Research Center (CTF)

The concept of quiet quitting has become a hot topic of conversation in the workplace. According to a new study, it is not just about lazy employees or a demanding younger generation. Alexandre Sukhov, new docent in business administration at Karlstad Business School, is one of the authors behind the study.

Quiet quitting means that employees stop engaging more than necessary – they do their job, but nothing beyond that. The study “Exploring the role of information systems-induced depletion, boreout syndrome, social media use on quiet quitting among digital cohorts” shows that this is often a reaction to socio-technical stress in today’s digitalised work environments.

The study shows that two factors stand out:

Charlotte Bäccman and Alexandre Sukhov have been appointed associate professors at the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences at Karlstad University. Here, they share insights into their research, what drives them, and thoughts about the future.

Charlotte Bäccman, associate professor of Psychology at CTF – what is your research about?

Jasper, you are a senior lecturer in Information Systems at Karlstad Business School and the Service Research Center, CTF. What did you do before you came to Karlstad University?
- I was a senior lecturer in user-centred design at the Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands. My focus has always been on how organisations can develop services, systems and products that suit people - that work for them.

- In addition to my academic career, I have also been a stand-up comedian and a columnist. I won the biggest comedy festival in the Netherlands shortly before my PhD defence and split my time between the stage and academia for many years. When we decided to move to Sweden, I focused completely on the academic track but managed to end up winning a big TV quiz show, similar to “På spåret”, right before the move. That sort of thing tends to give a person’s comedy career a big boost, but I was already in Värmland by then.

- With this project, we want to help lay the foundation for an ecosystem that supports collaboration between industries and sectors. The objective is to create synergies and boost the competitive edge of the companies and the appeal of rural locations, says Lotta Braunerhielm, docent in Human Geography at Karlstad University.

Lotta Braunerhielm, please tell us about the project

John-Erik Hassel recently completed his PhD in business administration at Karlstad Business School and The Service Research Center (CTF) and has done research on venture builders.

John-Erik Hassel, tell us about your research

– My research is about understanding a relatively new actor in entrepreneurial ecosystems called venture builders and how they can be understood in a larger context. Venture builders are actors who use a structured process to establish startups one after the other in collaboration with individual entrepreneurs.

Mia Larson, professor of business administration at Karlstad Business School, and Cecilia Cassinger, senior lecturer at Lund University, recently published the article “Platform Stories: The Role of Ideological Narratives in the Development of a Tourism Sharing Business Model”.

Mia Larson, tell us what your article is about

– It is about how an entrepreneur in adventure tourism creates a new digital sharing platform. In our article, we show the importance of attractive narratives in creating legitimacy, engagement and interest for the platform among its users, investors and those operating it. In this case, the narratives revolve around sharing resources, sustainability, an identity linked to adventure sports, as well as profit-making.