New professor of entrepreneurship Mikko Rönkkö at JSBE aims to invest in the quality of teaching and the use of AI in teaching and research
Mikko Rönkkö has had a prominent role in pedagogical development at faculty level and also internationally in developing the teaching of quantitative methods in entrepreneurship. He wants to invest in the quality of teaching and challenge himself as a teacher and in the planning and development of teaching.
“The great thing about teaching is that it forces me to learn things thoroughly. In smaller courses, in particular, it is also nice to see how students learn things, and to get positive feedback about it,” Rönkkö says.
“If you don’t enjoy teaching, you should reconsider whether the job is right for you. You need to genuinely like teaching.”
“I also want my contribution to be visible elsewhere in basic teaching, not only in the International Business and Entrepreneurship programme. There is room for more knowledge about entrepreneurship throughout the university,” Rönkkö states.
Interactive teaching drawing on generative AI
Rönkkö has strong expertise in network-mediated teaching drawing on AI. He has been praised for the interactive and dynamic nature of his teaching and for high-quality and comprehensive teaching materials.
“Unlike my own experiences as a student, when professors used to deliver endless slide marathons, I want to offer engaging teaching to my students.”
Rönkkö’s YouTube channel, which focuses on research methodology content, has nearly 11,000 followers and a total of 1.2 million views. The goal is to reach 100,000 followers.
“My own teaching and materials must be of such high quality that they can be published, and I that I can stand behind them. I want to challenge myself as a teacher and not just keep reusing the same old slides year after year,” Rönkkö states.
International quantitative entrepreneurship research
In his research, Rönkkö focuses on quantitative entrepreneurship research. Over his career, he has worked on several projects funded by the Research Council of Finland. For the next three years, he will be closely involved in the research project Solutions to methodology crisis in quantitative business research, which was launched in 2024.
“Other research themes I explore include AI and entrepreneurship, which examines whether AI serves more as a quality tool or an innovation driver in companies, as well as entrepreneurs’ well-being and companies’ willingness to grow.”
Rönkkö also works as an associate editor for the Organization Research Methods publication and for the Consortium for the Advancement of Research Methods and Analysis. He is an internationally connected researcher and has received several recognitions, such as the Academy of Management Best Paper Award for Organizational Research Methods - 2022 Best Quantitative Article of the Year.
“In my opinion, research themes should arise from one’s own interests. Instead of pursuing a broader research agenda, I have focused—perhaps even a bit too much—on research projects that are fun to carry out.”
The use of AI helps a lot
Rönkkö uses Ai in teaching and also in research, for example, when editing his own texts.
“Ai is no silver bullet, of course, but I would estimate that I can produce one additional article per year by taking advantage of it.”
“You should always think about the big picture and break it down into smaller tasks according to what you will do with AI and what you will do yourself. For example, AI is a splendid aid in making graphs. Similarly, made-up references hallucinated by AI are not useless as they can help find terms for further searches,” Rönkkö notes.
Encouragement for those considering entrepreneurship
The new professor of entrepreneurship also has personal entrepreneurial experience: during his student years, he founded three companies. The most significant one of these, he notes, is the staff recruitment company aTalent Recruiting, which he established in 2004. Its clientele has included, for instance, Nokia, Accenture and Neste.
“The hardest part of entrepreneurship is overcoming doubts about your own entrepreneurial capacity. I’d say anyone can start a company. Setting up a business to provide self-employment or additional income is not difficult,” Rönkkö encourages.
Mikko Rönkkö earned his doctoral degree in technology at Aalto University in 2014. He first worked at the University of Jyväskylä in the Faculty of Information Technology in from 2016 to 2019, and then at JSBE since the end of 2019. He started in his current post as professor of entrepreneurship on 1 September 2025.
