Iikka Meriläinen

I work in the MicroENTRE research group at the Kerttu Saalasti Institute as a project researcher in the KASVA and SMART ERA projects, as linked below.

My PhD research explores new venture legitimacy through a processual-performative lens: how new ventures become accepted within their social systems, enabling their access to stakeholder-controlled resources and increasing their likelihood of survival and growth. I analyze legitimacy as a continually evolving, socially constructed phenomenon, attempting to pinpoint the microfoundational communications and interactions in daily entrepreneurial work where legitimacy is established and maintained.

My professional background is in entrepreneurship, digitalization, and data. I graduated from the Oulu Business School, where I completed an extensive literature review on new venture legitimation strategies as my Master's thesis.