TalTech’s research articles of the year
2025 Mari-Klara Stein
Read more: These Are TalTech's Best Research Articles
2024 Aki Harima
Read more: These Are TalTech's Best Research Articles
2020 Susanne Durst
TalTech’s Lecturer of the Year
2025 Kristo Krumm
2024 Aive Pevkur
Aive Pevkur, a senior lecturer at the Department of Business Administration, is highly regarded for her enthusiasm, knowledge, and engaging lectures. She has the ability to present topics in an interesting way, actively involving students in discussions and encouraging them to share their thoughts. She knows how to ask thought-provoking questions that make students think deeply and provide real-life examples to help them better understand the topics. Students also highly appreciate Aive's energy and communication skills; she is always ready to lead discussions, encourage students, and listen to their opinions. A large part of the positive feedback for her successful teaching comes from her ability to make her lectures dynamic and engaging, avoiding monologues and creating an atmosphere where everyone can participate. “Extremely interesting lectures, where I wanted to be involved at all costs, because during the seminar we could also speak up and debate a bit,” one feedback states. Aive successfully combines teaching and research, integrating research results into her teaching. She is committed to continuous development and has written larger-scale research project proposals to find new opportunities. Under Aive's leadership, students have participated in the international Ethic Bowl competition. Aive is not afraid of change; she is willing to learn, test technical solutions, speak out on broader societal issues, and acquire new knowledge through international conferences and visits.
2023 Sirje Ustav
2022 Kaidi Kallaste
2021 Merle Ojasoo
2020 Jana Kukk
2019 Marina Järvis
2018 Paavo Siimann
Department Recognition
On January 20, 2026 the Department of Business Administration held its annual New Year's event. The event reflected on past achievements, recognized outstanding accomplishments, strengthened team spirit, and presented awards for the previous year’s successes:
Tarmo Koppel | AI-related courses and continuing education, presentations in champions’ workshops | Artificial intelligence is a highly important topic for society and education, and Tarmo Koppel has taken on an active leadership role in this field. His activities support the informed and responsible adoption of AI in education and contribute to shaping a future-oriented learning environment.
Aki Harima, Jaime Joel Rodriguez, Ekaterina Demiankova, Marianne Kallaste, Kristine Asu, Merli Reidolf, Olev Tõru, Tarmo Koppel, Ruzlin Akter | The Digital-Physical Hybrid Architecture of the Entrepreneurial Ecosystem: Multi-Level Analysis | The project examines how digital and physical structures jointly shape the functioning of entrepreneurial ecosystems at the macro, meso, and micro levels. Supported by an ETAG personal research grant (start grant), which is awarded through exceptionally competitive selection in economics, the project develops theoretically and empirically grounded knowledge that supports the advancement of entrepreneurship, innovation, and policymaking.
René Arvola, Koidu Saia, Olev Tõru | Team ÄKIline, composed of members of the Department of Business Administration, successfully finished the Ironman Tallinn Estonia 70.3 competition. Olev Tõru (1.9 km swim), René Arvola (90 km cycling), and Koidu Saia (21.1 km run) jointly completed this demanding challenge, demonstrating commitment, endurance, and strong team spirit.
Mari-Klara Stein, Merle Ojasoo, Mike Franz Wahl, Eliis Salm, Piibe Kirke Tops | Establishment of The Centre for Responsible Economics and ESG | The Centre brings together a wide range of stakeholders, including different university research groups as well as private and public sector organisations. Through joint research, development, and collaborative activities, the centre generates societal impact in a key area by promoting responsible business practices and the implementation of ESG principles.
Jaime Joel Rodriguez, Aki Harima | Creation of the Entrepreneurship Research Group LinkedIn profile and promotion of research activities | Through the Entrepreneurship Research Group’s LinkedIn profile, the group regularly showcases its activities, members, and research contributions, making research more visible, accessible, and applicable. The profile supports the development of new relationships with prospective doctoral candidates, students, and collaboration partners and has become an effective research communication channel, currently attracting approximately 1,400 followers.
Koidu Saia | Coordination of collaboration initiatives | Koidu Saia plays a central role in identifying and initiating collaboration initiatives. She actively identifies funding calls, brings together potential stakeholders, participates in discussions, and guides participants toward smooth and effective collaboration, often involving colleagues from other institutes. Thanks to her excellent overview of research potential and research interests, many initiatives are successfully realised that might otherwise remain unnoticed or fail to materialise.
Airi Freimuth | Visiting Lecturer | Airi Freimuth has taught undergraduate and master’s students for several years in both Estonian and English in the fields of e-marketing and digital marketing. She is characterised by a clear and accessible teaching style, strong professional competence, and thoroughness. Students value her communication skills, attentiveness, and dedication, which create a supportive and motivating learning environment.
Maddie Winter | Developer of academic writing | Maddie has actively supported the development of academic writing skills by organizing and hosting several focused writing events for PhD students. These writing off-sites combine structured goal setting, guided writing sprints, and peer interaction in a supportive and motivating environment. Her initiatives help Early Stage Researchers make progress on their work while encouraging a sense of academic community and good writing practices.
Artur Toikka | Active Contributor to the Doctoral Community | Artur Toikka is an active and dedicated representative of doctoral students. He contributes thoughtfully to discussions, engages constructively when needed, and effectively represents doctoral students’ interests, supporting a collaborative and well-functioning academic environment.
On January 21st, the Department of Business Administration held its annual New Year's event at Kinomaja. The event reflected on past achievements, recognized outstanding accomplishments, strengthened team spirit through collaborative exercises guided by Improteater Impeerium, and presented awards for the previous year’s successes.
- Educational Innovation of the Year. Nordbiz Intensive Week in Estonia | Virve Siirde, Merle Küttim, Marianne Kallaste, Mare Orav, Tairi Tuulik, Pia Riips
- Research Innovation of the Year. Submission of project applications for large-scale research projects | Aki Harima, Mari-Klara Stein, Tarmo Kalvet, Wolfgang Gerstlberger, Iivi Riivits-Arkonsuo, Karin Reinhold, Liis Ojamäe, Marianne Kallaste
- Collaborative Achievement of the Year. Participation in TalTech quiz games and sports events as teams | René Arvola, Tarmo Koppel, Artur Toikka, German Duran, Mari Avarmaa, Olev Tõru, Tairi Tuulik, Kristo Krumm, Merli Reidolf, Paavo Siimann, Eliis Salm, Merle Ojasoo
- Sustainability Achievement of the Year. ESG expert training program in cooperation with Swedbank | Merle Ojasoo, Mike Wahl, Liina Randmann, Ulrika Hurt, Wolfgang Gerstlberger, Marina Järvis, Natalie Aleksandra Gurvitš-Suits, Tarmo Kadak
- Opinion Highlight of the Year. Promoting sustainable consumer behaviour | Eliis Salm
- (Development) Activity of the Year. TalTech Management Lab | Maris Zernand-Vilson, Maarit Vabrit-Raadla
- Guest Lecturer of the Year. Marko Saag
- Recognition in the free category. Increasing Tallinn's international visibility and collaboration as a research hub through sustainability and innovation | Margit Kull, Mari Avarmaa, Merli Reidolf, Mari-Klara Stein, Wolfgang Gerstlberger, Gunnar Prause, Tarmo Kalvet, Marek Tiits, Vera Gerasimova, Maddie Winter, Koidu Saia, Tairi Tuulik
...
At the Department's annual start-of-the-year event, the year was summed up with a presentation by Head of Department Mari Avarmaa, followed by a chain reaction creation in teams at the Proto Invention Centre, and later by a delicious meal, where awards were handed out for the previous year's achievements.
In December 2022, an online voting took place, where we had a chance to vote for our department’s best colleagues and highlight significant actions.
- Lecturer of the year - Marina Järvis
- Guest lecturer of the year - Kaarel Krinal
- Supervisor of the year - Merle Ojasoo
- Teaching innovation of the year - Marketing 30 conference (Iivi Riivits-Arkonsuo, René Arvola, Eliis Salm, Rein Riisalu, Tairi Tuulik)
- Mentor of the year - Mari-Klara Stein
- Collaborator of the year - Tairi Tuulik
- Opinion leader of the year - Aive Pevkur
- Contribution of the year - Department's own newsletter (Tairi Tuulik, Merli Reidolf, Kelly Otsman, Pia Riips)
- Sustainability advocate of the year - Liis Ojamäe
Prof. Mari-Klara Stein received the Management Information Systems Quarterly (MISQ) Outstanding Associate Editor award
MISQ is a scholarly journal that publishes research articles in the field of management information systems (MIS). It is highly regarded in the academic community, and it is considered a reputable source for research in the field of management information systems.
Prof. Susanne Durst, an adjunct professor at TalTech Department of Business Administration made it to Stanford University's top 2% scholar list in single-year categories
The list highlights the 2% of the world's most cited researchers in 22 scientific fields and 174 sub-fields, taking into account the influence and impact of academic research. Susanne Durst’s research interests include knowledge (risk) management, innovation management, responsible digitalization and sustainable business development in the context of small entrepreneurial companies.
Prof. Linda D. Hollebeek, Adjunct Professor in the marketing unit at the Department of Business Administration, was featured on the Elsevier/Stanford Top Cited Researchers for the 4th consecutive year
"In the roller coaster that is publishing, there are many ups & downs but the important thing is to persist, keep trying & believe in your own work."
She has reached a remarkable 27.5K Google Scholar citations.
Linda Hollebeek focuses her research on customer/consumer and stakeholder engagement using digital technologies (including social media, online communities, and artificial intelligence), including innovation, ethics, and value creation. Hollebeek holds a PhD in Marketing from the University of Auckland and has been working at TalTech since 2019. Before her academic career, she worked as a management consultant. She has advised Coca-Cola, Hewlett-Packard, Roche Diagnostics, the New Zealand Ministry of Labour and the Trade Commission, and the Australian Defence Forces.
Susanne Durst was awarded the 2023 Emerald Literati Award
The article "The impact of knowledge risk management on sustainability" by Susanne Durst, adjunct professor, was selected as the most outstanding research article in the Emerald Literati Awards 2023. The Emerald Literati Awards are given to articles published in the VINE Journal of Information and Knowledge Management Systems, published by Emerald Publishing. The awards have been given to authors for over 25 years and aim to recognise the outstanding contribution of authors and reviewers. Read the article here
Mari Avarmaa appointed Dean of the School of Business and Governance
After hearing the position of the Council of the School of Business and Governance, Rector Tiit Land has decided to appoint Mari Avarmaa, who has been Head of the Department of Business Administration, as Dean of the School of Business and Governance.
On the occasion of her appointment, Mari Avarmaa thanked everyone for their trust, support and good thoughts. "I am looking forward to our continued cooperation and I would like to thank the current Dean Enn Listra, who has stood up for the School of Business and Governance over the years and will hand it over very strong," added Avarmaa.
The term of the new Dean started on 9 March 2023.
Susanne Durst's paper has been recognized as top-cited
Congratulations to Susanne Durst, whose paper "Temporary business model innovation - SMEs' innovation response to the Covid-19 crisis" has been recognized by an American multinational publishing company Wiley as a top cited paper (2021–2022) in R&D MANAGEMENT.
Read it here: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/radm.12498
Basel Hammoda has been accepted to the 2023 USASBE Doctoral Consortium
Basel Hammoda, Early Stage Researcher in the Entrepreneurship and International Business Unit, has been accepted to the 2023 USASBE Doctoral Consortium, a selection-based PhD training fellowship, which is considered one of the most prestigious in entrepreneurship research.
Many doctoral consortia emphasize traditional research, but the USASBE doctoral consortium immerses students in the world of teaching and learning entrepreneurship, preparing students to boldly teach entrepreneurship and engage in entrepreneurship education scholarship.
The Consortium will spread out over four months, featuring leading faculty in the discipline through a series of workshops, presentations, and panel discussions.
The government approved a new Council on Ethics for Public Officials, which includes Aive Pevkur, senior lecturer in organisation and management
The work of the new Council on Ethics for Public Officials will be chaired by Külli Taro, Head of Knowledge Transfer at the Ragnar Nurkse Department of Innovation and Governance, and, in addition to Aive, will also include Kaur Kajak, Deputy Chancellor of the Ministry of Finance, and Heddi Lutterus, Deputy Chancellor of the Ministry of Justice, Ulla Saar, Deputy Chancellor of the Ministry of Social Affairs, Jüri Mölder, City Secretary of Tartu City Government, Airi Mikli, Advisor to the National Audit Office, Mariann Märtsin, Associate Professor at Tallinn University and Heiki Sibul, Member of the Board of the Estonian Internet Foundation.
The tasks of the Council are to support the uniform implementation of the Code of Ethics, to provide clarifications on the implementation of the Code of Ethics for public officials, to advise public officials and authorities on matters of public officials' ethics, to give an opinion on the conformity of an official's act or conduct with the ethical requirements of public officials, to analyse the implementation of the Code of Ethics for public officials and the need to amend the Code of Ethics, and to participate in the drafting of development plans and legislation determining the strategic development of public officials' ethics. The Council on Ethics for Public Officials is an independent governmental commission attached to the Ministry of Finance with the aim of strengthening the fundamental values and ethics of public officials.
Adjunct Professor Linda Hollebeek has been named one of the world's most influential researchers
Each year, ClarivateTM identifies the world's most influential researchers most frequently cited by their peers. Linda Hollebeek, a Marketing Professor at TalTech, earned this exclusive distinction for the third time: in 2022 she was among fewer than 7,000 or about 0.1% of the world's researchers who are ranked by the global analytics company.
Linda Hollebeek focuses her research on customer/consumer and stakeholder engagement using digital technologies (including social media, online communities, and artificial intelligence), including innovation, ethics, and value creation. Hollebeek holds a PhD in Marketing from the University of Auckland and has been working at TalTech since 2019. Before her academic career, she worked as a management consultant. She has advised Coca-Cola, Hewlett-Packard, Roche Diagnostics, the New Zealand Ministry of Labour and the Trade Commission, and the Australian Defence Forces.
Linda Hollebeek admits it has been a great honour for her, as only one researcher out of 1,000 makes it to the list yearly. "When I was a PhD student, I would have never dreamed of reaching this point. I am happy that my publications have been read and considered worthy of reference. It also matters to me that I am on this list for the third consequent year (i.e., 2020, 2021 and 2022). My research focuses on customer/consumer engagement, and recently I have focused on broader stakeholder engagement. I have been lucky because, at the beginning of my doctoral studies, there was not much academic literature available on this topic, though there was great interest among managers in customer/consumer involvement, which provided me with a great opportunity," Hollebeek added.
According to Mari Avarmaa, the Director of the Department of Business Administration, the School of Business and Governance aims to create, share, and apply world-class knowledge. "Therefore, we can be proud that our PhD students and researchers have the opportunity to collaborate with such an internationally acknowledged researcher. Linda Hollebeek is a dedicated, innovative, and collaborative researcher from New Zealand. She is also the only economist from the Estonian universities included in Clarivate's list," Avarmaa said.
Clarivate™ list of the most cited researchers is comparable to Forbes' influential list. It is the experts' and colleagues' recognition of the work and influence of the outstanding researchers. Clarivate™ is a global leader in providing trusted insights, analytics, and scientific monitoring. The people selected by the company to the list of influential researchers have significant influence in their field, as their published articles are among the 1% most cited texts in the world.
The list of researchers is available here: Highly Cited Researchers - Clarivate
Aive Pevkur receives award for mentoring students in Olympiads
At the end of October, at the educational conference "Talendid tuleviku teenistuses IV", Aive Pevkur, senior lecturer in the field of organisation and management, received a mentoring award for her mentoring of students in Olympiads (in the field of philosophy) at the reception of the Rector of the University of Tartu.
Student Council's recognition to Oliver Parts
Congratulations to Oliver Parts, Associate Professor at the Department of Business Administration, on the Student Council's recognition of him as the Best Lecturer of the Year 2022 at TalTech School of Business and Governance on Teachers' Day yesterday (05.10.2022).
The most-read list of articles of 2021 in the Journal of the International Council for Small Business
The research paper COVID-19 as an accelerator for developing strong(er) businesses? Insights from Estonian small firms by Susanne Durst, Full Professor of Entrepreneurship and International Business, and Thomas Henschel, has made it to the most-read list of articles of 2021 in the Journal of the International Council for Small Business.
Durst and Henschel's study looks at how small companies from Estonia have been coping with COVID-19 so far, analysing overall crisis management and its impact on small businesses. The focus is on how small businesses have adapted to the new situation in a short period of time and have taken appropriate measures to cope with the crisis successfully.
This article is a nice example that shows the positive consequences of a crisis, namely that positive energy can be used not only to tackle the current situation (a pandemic) but also to strengthen the company in the long term,
said Professor Durst, who hopes that big companies will learn from small ones. Durst is very pleased that the article has received a lot of attention from small businesses.
Susanne Durst was awarded the 2021 Literati Award
Susanne Durst, Professor of Organisation and Management at Department of Business Administration, was awarded the 2021 Literati Award as Outstanding Reviewer.
For over 25 years the Emerald Literati Awards have celebrated and rewarded the outstanding contributions of authors and reviewers, not only to our journals and books, but to the body of knowledge itself.
Clarivate Analytics has added professor Linda Hollebeek to its list of the most influential researchers of 2021
In total, Clarivate Analytics has a list of nearly 6,600 researchers from around the world, including Linda Hollebeek, Michael Porter, Eugene Fama and David Audretsch. Mari Avarmaa, Director of the Department of Business Administration, said:
Clarivate's ranking of the most cited researchers is comparable to Forbes' list of influential people. It is a recognition by experts and peers for the work and impact of eminent researchers. Linda Hollebeek is a tremendously hard-working, innovative and collaborative scientist from New Zealand. Current and future students, PhD students and researchers at TalTech will have a unique opportunity to be inspired by and collaborate with such a highly acclaimed researcher - after all, Hollebeek is the only economis and business researcher from an Estonian university on the Clarivate list.
Linda Hollebeek's research focuses on customer/consumer engagement with digital technologies, including social media, online communities, artificial intelligence (e.g. service robots), innovation and value creation. Over the last decade, Hollebeek's publications on customer engagement have been the most cited by research colleagues. According to Google Scholar, the most cited article is Customer engagement: Conceptual domain, fundamental propositions, and implications for research.
Linda Hollebeek said:
My advice to any academic author is to write papers about topics that you’re passionate about. Then, when you have decided re your topic, try write a clear, coherent story that is easy to grasp for readers (i.e., lots of iterations and hard work!). For me personally, writing an interesting story that adds value to the reader is very motivating. Overall, a lot of hard work is involved to write any research paper.
Linda Hollebeek holds a PhD in Marketing from the University of Auckland. She has been an associate professor at TalTech for three years. In addition, she has held professorships at NHH Norwegian School of Economics and Montpellier Business School. She has many academic awards and was selected for the prestigious Clarivate list last year as well.
Clarivate is a global leader in science monitoring. Clarivate Analytics' list of the most cited researchers is based on data from Web of Science, the world's largest scientific database. Each year, Clarivate identifies the world's most influential social and natural scientists who have been cited most frequently by their peers over the past decade. In 2021, nearly 6,600 researchers, or about 0.1% of the world's scientists in 21 fields, received this exclusive recognition.
In addition to the TalTech researcher, six other researchers from Estonian universities are on the Clarivate list.
Linda Hollebeek was chosen as one of the most influential researchers of 2020
Linda Hollebeek, an adjunct professor in marketing, is the only researcher in Tallinn and the first one of social scientists from Estonia, who is among Clarivate 2020 top researchers list.
Clarivate is a global leader in providing reliable analysis and monitoring science. People in this list have shown notable influence in their field and have also published multiple papers that rank in the top 1% in the world by citations.
Hollebeek’s research is focused on consumer engagement with digital technologies, social media, and service robots. She is also interested in innovation and value creation.
Hollebeek has Ph.D. in marketing and she has been working in TalTech for 2 years. Before her academic career, she used to work as a management consultant. Her consulting assignments have included projects for Coca-Cola, Westpac Bank, and the Australian Defence Force, among others.
Source: Research in Estonia
Professor Susanne Durst won an Emerald Literati Award
Her article How far have we come with the study of knowledge risks? has been selected as an Outstanding Paper in the 2020 Emerald Literati Awards „VINE Journal of Information and Knowledge Management Systems“ category. The editorial team said that it is one of the most exceptional pieces of work they saw throughout 2019.
The award came really by surprise. A very nice surprise indeed. On the other hand, I am very proud to see that my work is apparently viewed as valuable and relevant, which in turn increases my motivation even more.