My current research interests are in corporate social responsibility and its impacts on brand loayalty. More specifically, I investigate how psychological traits affect our views on corporate social responsiblity and how these two concepts together affect brand loyalty. In recent years I have conducted research in the fields of arts marketing, brands, retailing, marketing strategy, innovations and digital marketing. My expertise is in testing theories and providing theoretical contributions through analyzing quantitative data using advanced statistical methods. I mostly use Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) as my tool to provide explanations for complex interactions and thus implications for theory.

At the moment I teach mainly at the Aalto University Business School (Department of Marketing) and at the Aalto University Executive Education (DBA-program). I am also an Adjunct Professor of Marketing at the University of Helsinki.

Recent articles in academic journals and book chapters (2010-)

• Skippari, M., Kajalo, S. & Lindblom, A. (2021). “The Importance of Online Retailers’ Ethics for Traditional, Online and Multichannel Customers,”. In: Niininen, O. (ed.): Contemporary Issues in Digital Marketing, Routledge, 119–129.
• Mattila, J., Tukiainen, S, & Kajalo, S. (2019), "Heterogeneity in Client Motives for Utilizing Management Consulting", Baltic Journal of Management.
• Lindblom, A., Kajalo, S., & Mitronen, L. (2017). ”Linking retailers’ ethical leadership to frontline employee outcomes: a structural equation model approach,” International Journal of Business Innovation and Research, 14(1), 18–38.
• Mattila, J., Tukiainen, S, & Kajalo, S. (2017). ” Meanings of Military Rank,” Defence Studies, 17(4), 359–378.
• Lindblom, A. & Kajalo, S. (2017), “Investigating the links between market orientation, marketing capabilities and performance in the context of retailing: a structural equation model approach,” International Journal of Business Innovation and Research, Vol. 12 (3): 337–352.
• Kajalo, S. & Lindblom, A. (2016), “The Role of Formal and Informal Surveillance in Creating a Safe and Entertaining Retail Environment,” Facilities, Vol. 34, Iss. 3/4, pp. 219-232.
• Kajalo, S., Rajala, A. & Tuominen, M. (2016), “The Impact of Market-Based Assets on Innovativeness and Business Performance,” International Journal of Business Innovation and Research, Vol. 11 (4): 584–596.
• Lindblom, A., Kajalo, S., & Mitronen, L. (2016), “Does a Retailer’s Charisma Matter? A Study of Frontline Employee Perceptions of Charisma in the Retail Setting,” Journal of Services Marketing, Vol. 30 (3): 266–276.
• Kajalo, S. & Lindblom, A. (2015), “Market orientation, entrepreneurial orientation and business performance among small retailers,” International Journal of Retail & Distribution Management, Vol. 43, Iss. 7, pp. 580-596.
• Jyrämä, A., Kajalo, S., Johansson, T. & Sirén, A. (2015),“Arts Organizations and Branding: Creating a New Joint Brand for Three Arts Organizations,” Journal of Arts Management, Law & Society, Vol. 43, Iss. 3, pp. 193-206.
• Lindblom, A., Kajalo, S., & Mitronen, L. (2015). "Exploring the links between ethical leadership, customer orientation and employee outcomes in the context of retailing," Management Decision, Vol. 53, Iss. 7, pp. 642-1658.
• Kajalo, S. & Lindblom, A. (2015), “Creating a safe and pleasant shopping environment: a retailer’s view,” Property Management, Vol. 33, Iss. 3, pp. 275-286.
• Salo, J., Kajalo, S., Mäntymäki, M., Sihvonen, A., and Leminen, S. (2013), “Consumer acceptance of electronic reading devices: an empirical study from Finland,” Journal of Information Technology Research, Vol. 6, Iss. 1, pp. 20-31.
• Parvinen, P., Aspara, J., Kajalo, S., & Hietanen, J. (2013), “Sales activity systematization and performance: differences between product and service firms,” Journal of Business & Industrial Marketing, Vol. 28, Iss. 6, pp. 494-505.
• Kajalo, S. & Lindblom, A. (2011) Effectiveness of Formal and Informal Surveillance in Reducing Crime at Grocery Stores. Journal of Small Business and Enterprise Development. Vol. 18, No. 1, pp. 157-169.
• Lindblom, A. & Kajalo, S. (2011) The Use and Effectiveness of Formal and Informal Surveillance in Reducing Shoplifting: A Survey in Sweden, Norway, and Finland. The International Review of Retail, Distribution and Consumer Research, Vol. 21, No 2, pp. 111-128.
• Parvinen, P., Aspara, J., Hietanen, J., and Kajalo, S. (2011), Awareness, Action and Context-Specificity of Blue Ocean Practices in Sales Management, Management Decision, Vol:49, Iss. 8, pp. 1218-1234.
• Kajalo, S. & Lindblom, A. (2011) An Empirical Analysis of Retail Entrepreneurs? Approaches to Prevent Shoplifting. Security Journal. Vol. 24, No. 4, 269-282.
• Lankinen, M., Kajalo, S., Mäntymäki, M., and Salo, J. (2011), “Utilization of social media in the music industry: a Finnish case study,” Journal of Digital Marketing, Vol. 2, No. 2, pp. 65-83.
• Kajalo, S. & Lindblom, A. (2011) Formal and informal surveillance and competitiveness of shopping centers in Nordic countries, Journal of Management and Marketing Research, Vol. 6, January 2011, pp. 69-79.
• Kajalo, S. & Lindblom, A. (2010) Surveillance Investments in Store Environment and Feel of Security. Facilities. Vol. 28, No. 9/10, pp. 465-474.
• Kajalo, S. & Lindblom, A. (2010) How Retail Entrepreneurs Perceive the Link between Surveillance, Feeling of Security, and Competitiveness of Retail Store: A Structural Model Approach. Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services. Vol. 17. No. 4, 300-305.
• Kajalo, S. & Lindblom, A. (2010). The perceived effectiveness of surveillance in reducing crime at shopping centres in Finland, Property Management, Vol. 28, No. 1, pp. 47-59.

Recent presentations in academic conferences (2010-)

• Kajalo, S.: “Market Orientation as Competitive Advantage in the Age of Corporate Social Responsibility – An Integrative Framework,” IISES 2020 International Academic Conference, SP Jain School of Global Management, Dubai, United Arab Emirates, 16-18 January, 2020.
• Sakagawa, Y., Kajalo, S., & Morimura, F. (2019), “Organizational Structure, Market Orientation and Innovativeness in Retailing,” The 21th Australia and New Zealand Marketing Academy Conference (ANZMAC 2019), Wellington, New Zealand, Australia, 2-4 December, 2019.
• Kajalo, S., & Song, J.: (2019), “Understanding the Inherent Complexity of Consumers' Motives to Participate in Collaborative Consumption: An Empirical Analysis,” 26th Annual Confernce of American Society of Business and Behavioral Sciences (ASBBS), Las Vegas, USA, March 9-12, 2019.
• Jyrämä, A., Äyväri, A. & Kajalo, S. (2018), “Role of Mediators in City and University Collaboration,” 15th International Conference on Intellectual Capital, Knowledge Management & Organisational Learning (ICICKM 2018), University of the Western Cape, South Africa, November 29-30, 2018.
• Kajalo, S., & Song, J.: (2018), “Understanding Consumers’ Motivation to Participate in Collaborative Consumption through Reinforcement Sensitivity Theory,” 2018 International Conference on Business and Information (BAI 2018), Seoul, Korea, July 6-8, 2018.
• Sakagawa, Y., Kajalo, S., & Morimura, F. (2018), “Role of Customer Orientation in Retail Marketing,” The 20th Australia and New Zealand Marketing Academy Conference (ANZMAC 2018), Adelaide, Australia, 3-5 December, 2018.
• Sakagawa, Y., Kajalo, S., Morimura, F., & Woonho, K. (2018). “The Impact of Market Orientation and Supply Chain orientation on Business Performance in Japanese Retailing”, 2018 Global Marketing Conference, Tokyo, Japan, July 26-29, 2018.
• Kajalo, S. (2018). “The Role of Market Orientation in Creating Sustainable Competitive Advantage in Retailing”, 24th Annual Confernce of American Society of Business and Behavioral Sciences (ASBBS), Las Vegas, USA, March 23-26, 2017.
• Nechita, F., Tanaka, H., & Kajalo, S. (2017), “Using Collaborative Project-Based Learning to Promote Tourism Destinations in Transylvania,” East-West Cohesion – 2^nd International Scientific Conference, Dunaújváros, Hungary, November 16-17, 2017.
• Nechita, F., Tanaka, H., & Kajalo, S. (2017), “How visual narratives influence the projected image of a tourist destination. A Japanese focus on Transylvania,” 13th Conference of the European Sociological Association, Athens, Greece, August 29-1 September, 2017.
• Kajalo, S., Ito, N., Nechita, F., Sakagawa, Y., Song, J., & Tanaka, H. (2017), “Corporate Social Responsibility and Market Orientation – Exploring New Avenues For Future Research,” 5th Annual International Conference on Marketing (ICOM 2017), Colombo, Sri Lanka, May 25-26, 2017.
• Kajalo, S. (2017). “The Role of Market Orientation in Creating Sustainable Competitive Advantage in Retailing”, 24th Annual Confernce of American Society of Business and Behavioral Sciences (ASBBS), Las Vegas, USA, March 23-26, 2017.
• Kajalo, S., & Jyrämä, A. (2016). "Place Branding and Social Responsibility: An Investigation of Critical Conceptual Issues", the 2016 Global Marketing Conference (GMC 2016), Hong Kong, July 21-24, 2016.
• Sakagawa, Y., & Kajalo, S. (2016). "The Effects of Organizational Structure and Market Orientation on Innovation Orientation in Retailing", the 2016 JSMD-GAMMA Joint Symposium at the Global Marketing Conference (GMC 2016), Hong Kong, July 21-24, 2016.
• Kajalo, S., Tukiainen, S. & Mattila, J. (2016). "The Impact of Management Consulting on Organizational Performance: a Structural Model Approach", 11th International Forum on Knowledge Asset Dynamics (IFKAD 2016), Dresden, Germany, June 15-17, 2016.
• Kajalo, S., Sakagawa , Y., Jyrämä, A. & Koku, P. (2016), “Effects of Behavioral Inhibition System (BIS) and Behavioral Activation System (BAS) on CSR Beliefs and Brand Loyalty in the Retail Industry,” 4th Annual International Conference on Marketing, Bangkok, Thailand, 26th-28th May, 2016.
• Alas, R., Jyrämä, A., Kajalo, S. (2016) “Building Brand Loyalty for an Arts Organization: Does Responsibility Matter?” Proceedings of the 4th International OFEL Conference on Governance, Management and Entrepreneurship, pp. 590-606, Dubrovnik, Croatia, 15-16 April, 2016.
• Alas, R., Jyrämä, A. & Kajalo, S. (2015), "Social Responsibility, Organization Reputation and Brand Loyalty: The Case of an Arts Organization", 2015 APROS (Asia Pacific Researchers in Organization Studies) and EGOS (European Group for Organizational Studies) Conference, 9-11 December 2015, Sydney, Australia.
• Kajalo, S., Lindblom, A. & Skippari, M. (2015), "Towards a Better Understanding of Multichannel Retailing: Consumer Attitudes Towards Traditional, Online and Multichannel Retailing in Finland," 2015 International Conference on Business and Information (BAI2015), 7-9 July 2015, Macau.
• Buendía, A., Alas, R. Jyrämä, A. & Kajalo, S. (2015), "Exploring Customer Loyalty in Arts Organizations: The Role of Social Responsibility," Managing Art Projects with Societal Impact (MAPSI)-conference, July 7, 2015, Tallinn, Estonia.
• Kajalo, S. & Jyrämä, A. (2015), ”Exploring the Dynamics of Corporate Social Responsibility and Brand Loyalty,” the American Marketing Association (AMA) 2015 Winter Marketing Educators’ Conference, February 13-15, 2015, San Antonio, USA.
• Kajalo, S. & Jyrämä, A. (2015), ”The Impact of Social Responsibility of the City on Brand Attitude to Living in the City,” American Society of Business and Behavioral Sciences (ASBBS) 22^nd Annual Conference, February 19-22, 2015, Las Vegas, USA.
• Kajalo, S. & Jyrämä, A. (2014), ”The Impacts of Corporate Social Responsibility and Contribution to Local Communities on Brand Identification, Corporate Reputation and Brand Loyalty,” 17th AMS World Marketing Congress, Lima, Peru, August 5-8, 2014.
• Jyrämä, A. & Kajalo, S. (2014), “City Branding: Introducing a New Theoretical Framework with Social Responsibility of the City and Contribution of the City to the Metropolitan Area,” 2nd International Conference on Marketing, Colombo, Sri Lanka, 25-26 February, 2014.
• Jyrämä, A. & Kajalo, S. (2013), ”Building a Strong Brand for an Arts Organization: the Role of Contribution to Local Communities and Social Responsibility,” 39th Annual Social Theory, Politics and the Arts Conference, Seattle, USA October 24-26, 2013.
• Sorjonen, H., Ruusuvuori, M. & Kajalo, S. (2013), ”Organizational Level Effectiveness of a State Funding Increase to Arts Organizations,” XII International Conference on Arts & Cultural Management (AIMAC 2013), Universidad de los Andes at Bogotá, Colombia, June 26-29, 2013.
• Jyrämä, A., Kajalo, S., Mäkinen, A. & Vilén, T. (2013), ”Brand Image of Merging Brands: An Empirical Analysis of the Merging of Two Orchestras and a Music University,” XII International Conference on Arts & Cultural Management (AIMAC 2013), Universidad de los Andes at Bogotá, Colombia, June 26-29, 2013.
• Salo, J., Kajalo, S., Mäntymäki, M., and Najmul Islam, A.K.M. (2013), “Conceptualizing Perceived Benefits and Investigating its Role in Adoption of Tablet Computers Among Newspaper Subscribers,” In: Douligeris, C., Polemi, N., Karantjias, A. and W. Lamersdorf (eds.): Collaborative, Trusted and Privacy-Aware e/m-Services, Proceedings of the12th IFIP WG 6.11 Conference on e-Business, e-Services, and e-Society, I3E 2013, Athens, Greece, April 25-26, 2013, pp. 186-199.
• Kajalo, S. & Lindblom, A. (2013), ”Consumers’ Preferences on Formal and Informal Surveillance Practices in the Context of Shopping Centers,” 5th International Academic Conference organized by International Institute of Social and Economic Sciences (IISES), Buenos Aires, Argentina, February 3-5, 2013.
• Kajalo, S., Mäntymäki, M., Salo, J., Huhtala, J.-P., and Sihvonen, A. (2012), “A Model of User Acceptance of E-reading Devices among Newspaper Subscribers,” Global Marketing Conference (GMC), Seoul, Republic of Korea, July 19-22, 2012.
• Blakaj, H., Sihvonen, A., Huhtala, J.-P., Mattila, P., Kajalo, S., Lindholm, J., Pöyry, E., Koivisto, E., and Seregina, A. (2012), “Ad formats in tablet devices,”, Global Marketing Conference (GMC), Seoul, Republic of Korea, July 19-22, 2012.
• Kajalo, S., Mäntymäki, M., Salo, J., Huhtala, J.-P., Koivisto, E., and Sihvonen, A. (2012), “Factors Affecting Consumer Acceptance of Innovation - Case of E-Reading Devices,” Annual Conference of the Academy of Innovation and Entrepreneurship, Macau, China, June 8-10, 2012.
• Kajalo, S. & Lindblom, A. (2012), ”Evaluating the Effects of Formal and Informal Surveillance: A Retailer's View,” Proceedings of the American Society of Business and Behavioral Sciences (ASBBS) Annual Conference, Las Vegas, USA, February 23-26, 2012, Volume 19, Number 1, pp. 462-471.
• Kajalo, S., Leminen, S., Mäntymäki, M., and Salo, J. (2011), ”Consumer Acceptance of E-Reading Devices: An Empirical Analysis,” Proceedings of the International Conference on Business and Information (BAI 2011), Bangkok, Thailand, July 4-6, 2011, Vol. 8 (CD-ROM), ISSN 1729-9322.
• Salo, J., Mäntymäki, M., Lankinen, M., and Kajalo, S. (2011), “Harnessing the Power of Social Media in the Music Industry: A Finnish Case Study,” 24th Bled eConference, eFuture: Creating Solutions for the Individual, Organisations and Society, Bled, Slovenia, June 12-15, 2011.
• Kajalo, S., Rajala, A. & Tuominen, M. (2011), “Market-Based Assets, Innovation Success and Business Performance: An Empirical Examination in Global Context,” Proceedings of the 2011 American Marketing Association Winter Educators’ Conference, Austin, USA, February 18-20, 2011.
• Kajalo, S. & Lindblom, A. (2010), “Crime Prevention in Retail Stores: An Empirical Analysis,” In: Kim, E.Y. (ed.), Proceedings of the 2010 Global Marketing Conference at Tokyo (Tokyo, Japan, September 9-11, 2010), ISSN 1976-8699, pp.1252-1260.
• Kajalo, S., Rajala, A. & Tuominen, M. (2010), “Performance Implications of Market-Based Assets and Innovation Success,” In: Gao, J. et al. (eds.), Proceedings of Academy of Innovation and Entrepreneurship 2010 (Tsinghua University, Beijing, China, July 9-11, 2010), ISBN 978-7-5084-7589-9, pp. 473-476.
• Kajalo, S. and Lindblom A. (2010), “Formal and Informal Surveillance and Competitiveness of Shopping Centers: A Structural Equation Modeling Approach,” Proceedings of the American Society of Business And Behavioral Sciences (ASBBS), 17^th Annual Meeting, February18-21, Las Vegas, Nevada, USA.
• Mattila, J., Tukiainen, S. & Kajalo, S. (2010), “Impact and Significance: A Dichotomy of Motives for Buying Management Consulting Services,” British Academy of Management (BAM) 2010 Conference, Sheffield, UK, September 14-16, 2010.

Recent teaching

• Quantitative Business Research Methods, Aalto University Executive Education.
• Quantitative Business Research Methods, Aalto University School of Business.
• Principles of Marketing, Aalto University School of Business.
• Advanced Quantitative Research Methods in Marketing, Aalto University School of Business.
• Market Research, Aalto University School of Business.

Areas of interest and expertise

• Corporate social responsibility
• Brand loyalty
• Marketing strategy
• Arts management and marketing
• Retailing
• Innovations
• Digital marketing
• Quantitative research methods
• Structural equation modeling