Aki Koivula
akjeko@utu.fi +358 29 450 3073 +358 50 436 7381 Assistentinkatu 7 Turku Office: 456 ORCID identifier: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8453-0863 |
Political trust, Political attitudes, Digital interaction and participation; Social networks; Social Trust; Media consumption; Political parties; Longitudinal and Experimental Survey methodology
INVESTHub
I am a docent in Economic Sociology and currently work as a Senior Researcher at the INVEST Flagship, where I lead a research group focused on implementing the INVEST Longitudinal Survey on Well-Being. My research focuses on citizens' well-being and engagement with state institutions, and I have published extensively in leading academic journals, including European Political Science Review, Sociology, Social Science & Medicine, and New Media & Society.
From 2020 to 2023, I led the KRIME research group, which examined the social impacts of the pandemic. I am also actively involved in several domestic and international research networks, such as the Emerging Technologies Lab at Tampere University. In addition to my research activities, I currently serve as the Co-Editor-in-Chief of the Finnish Journal of Social Research.
Before joining INVEST, I served several years in different teaching positions, being also as head of the Economic Sociology Unit for two years.
My research bridges sociology, political science, and social psychology to explore the interplay between citizen political engagement and societal change. My research extensively examines the development and consequences of political trust, as well as other forms of trust, while also exploring the transformative impact of technology on human interaction and participation.
My dissertation (2014–2019) examined how political preferences shape citizens' behaviors and attitudes, laying the foundation for my first PI project (2021–2023), which investigated the complex role of political trust in crisis situations. This work challenged individualistic perspectives and refined social theory. More recently, my focus has shifted to welfare state reform, where I develop methodologies to assess both the impact and public acceptability of social investments.
- INWS0014 Social Inequality
- Combating loneliness: The role of neighbourhood ICT, environmental attractiveness, and a sense of belonging to a local community (2023)
- Journal of Community and Applied Social Psychology
(A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal) - COVID-19 Compliance and Media Consumption: A Longitudinal Study of Finland and the US During the First Year of COVID-19 (2023)
- Journal of Broadcasting and Electronic Media
(A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal) - From digital divide to digital capital: the role of education and digital skills in social media participation (2023)
- Universal Access in the Information Society
(A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal) - Greed doesn’t grow on trees: the indirect association between proenvironmental behaviour and materialism through adolescents’ psychological entitlement (2023)
- Young Consumers
(A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal) - Moralized Attitudes Toward the Unvaccinated During the Pandemic: The Impact of News Framing and Mediating Role of Emotions (2023) Marttila Eetu, Koivula Aki
(D4 Published development or research report or study ) - News Media Framing, Institutional Trust, and Attitudes Toward the Unvaccinated. An Experimental Study of the COVID-19 Pandemic in Finland (2023) Koivula Aki, Marttila Eetu, Koiranen Ilkka
(D4 Published development or research report or study ) - The Electoral Consequences of Economic Inequality in Finland: The Case of the Finns Party (2023)
- INVEST blog
(E1 Popularised article) - Did the pandemic increase social media-induced appearance pressures? A longitudinal analysis of social media caused appearance-related pressures before and during the Covid-19 pandemic (2022) Sarpila Outi, Koivula Aki, Åberg Erica
(D4 Published development or research report or study ) - Different Sample Sources, Different Results? A Comparison of Online Panel and Mail Survey Respondents (2022)
- International Conference on Human-Computer Interaction
(A4 Refereed article in a conference publication ) - Exploring class identification among Finnish party members (2022)
- Scandinavian Political Studies
(A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal) - Life satisfaction with gambling communities: a cross-national study of excessive gambling actives among Finnish, South-Korean, Spanish and American emerging adults. (2022)
- Journal of Gambling Studies
(A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal) - Loneliness and Psychological Distress Before and During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Relationships With Social Media Identity Bubbles (2022)
- Social Science and Medicine
(A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal) - Miksi suomalaiset eroavat evankelis-luterilaisesta kirkosta? (2022)
- Yhteiskuntapolitiikka
(A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal) - Shedding Light on People's Social Media Concerns through Political Party Preference, Media Trust, and Immigration Attitudes (2022) Europe in the Age of Post-truth Politics - Populism, Disinformation and the Public Sphere Malinen Sanna, Koivula Aki, Keipi Teo, Saarinen Arttu
(A3 Refereed book chapter or chapter in a compilation book) - Sosiaalinen media on kaksiteräinen miekka yksinäisyyden torjunnassa (2022)
- Turun Sanomat
(E1 Popularised article) - The Role of Collaboration in Complying with COVID-19 Health Protective Behaviors: A Cross-National Study. (2022)
- Administration and Society
(A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal) - The voice of distrust? The relationship between political trust, online political participation and voting (2022)
- Journal of Trust Research
(A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal) - Undercurrents of echo chambers and flame wars: party political correlates of social media behavior (2022)
- Journal of Information Technology and Politics
(A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal) - Vastavuoroisuuden jälkeen – Bitcoin-kryptovaluutta ja virtuaalinen luottamusnormi markkinoilla (2022)
- Poliittinen talous
(A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal) - When trust is not enough. A longitudinal analysis of political trust and political competence during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in Finland (2022)
- European Political Science Review
(A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal)