Mikko Rönkkö is a Professor of Entrepreneurship at Jyväskylä University School of Business and Economics (JSBE) and a Docent at Aalto University School of Science in the field of statistical methods in management research, where he also completed his doctorate. He is recognized as one of the leading quantitative research experts in management, with research interests spanning growth entrepreneurship, entrepreneurial software companies, and quantitative research methods in management research. He is currently the most cited professor in business studies at JSBE according to ISI Web of Science data, and ranks as the highest impact researcher at JSBE in the Stanford/Elsevier's Top 2% Scientist Rankings.
Dr. Rönkkö serves as an Associate Editor for *Organizational Research Methods* and is on the editorial board of *Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice*. Previously, he served as department editor in the *Journal of Operations Management*, handling methodological articles. His excellence in reviewing has been recognized through multiple awards, including the Distinguished Service Award from the Journal of Operations Management.
He maintains an influential research methods-focused YouTube channel with over 10,000 subscribers and more than 1 million views at (https://www.youtube.com/mronkko), providing extensive digital learning materials including over 300 professional-quality video lectures.
In addition to his academic career, Dr. Rönkkö has significant entrepreneurial experience, having founded three companies. Most notably, he founded aTalent Recruiting, which now has consolidated revenues in the €5-10M class and continues to fulfill its social mission of connecting companies with the right talent.
Dr. Mikko Rönkkö's research spans entrepreneurship studies and quantitative research methodology. As an Associate Professor of Entrepreneurship at Jyväskylä University School of Business and Economics (JSBE) and a Docent at Aalto University, he has built a distinctive research program that combines substantive entrepreneurship research with methodological expertise.
In entrepreneurship research, Dr. Rönkkö has developed several interrelated streams of inquiry. His primary focus has been on the growth and internationalization of software companies, investigating how these firms develop across various stages and expand into international markets. He has been involved with the long-running National Software Industry Survey for over a decade, a project tracking Finnish software companies' growth trajectories, internationalization strategies, and business model innovations. This research stream benefits from Dr. Rönkkö's own entrepreneurial background as the founder of three companies, including aTalent Recruiting, giving him firsthand insight into the challenges and opportunities facing growth-oriented ventures.
Dr. Rönkkö has also studied entrepreneurial exits, particularly examining transitions from entrepreneurship to retirement among aging business owners. His research explores how life satisfaction impacts the decision to leave entrepreneurship and the psychological factors involved in these transitions. Additionally, he investigates the effectiveness of entrepreneurial support organizations such as accelerators and incubators in fostering growth and business model innovation, providing evidence-based insights for program design and policy development. His work on entrepreneurial orientation tackles conceptualization and measurement challenges within this fundamental construct, helping to clarify how this concept is defined and assessed in research settings. More recently, Dr. Rönkkö has begun studying the application of artificial intelligence in entrepreneurship, examining how AI technologies are transforming entrepreneurial opportunities and business practices.
Complementing his entrepreneurship research, Dr. Rönkkö has developed significant expertise in research methodology. His work addresses what he terms the "methodology crisis" in quantitative business research—the increasing misuse and misinterpretation of advanced analytical techniques alongside a declining grasp of fundamental methods. He studies widespread methodological problems in management research and develops practical guidelines for improving research practices. His Academy of Finland project (2024-2028) continues this important line of inquiry with a focus on entrepreneurship research.
The interdisciplinary impact of Dr. Rönkkö's methodological work is reflected in his publications in top journals across four different fields: Entrepreneurship (Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice), Organizational Behavior (Journal of Applied Psychology), Operations Management (Journal of Operations Management), and Information Systems (MIS Quarterly). He has also published extensively in both applied methodological journals (Organizational Research Methods, Psychological Methods) and more technical statistical outlets (Structural Equation Modeling). His methodological research focuses on statistical modeling techniques, research design, and measurement theory, with significant contributions to the applications of structural equation modeling in management and social sciences.
