An “As Told To” interview by Kristaps Kovalonoks, Research Coordinator at Aalto School of Business.
This interview is part of a first-person storytelling series highlighting the personal journeys, ideas, and insights of members of Aalto University’s Entrepreneurship Unit (ENTU). Real stories, told in their own words.
What connects international HRM, people analytics, and a curiosity about how careers unfold later in life? In this conversation, Marco Rapp, Postdoctoral Researcher at Aalto University and Assistant Professor at the University of Amsterdam, reflects on his path from psychology and management studies to researching leadership, career paradoxes, and the working lives of people often overlooked by mainstream HR. Based in Amsterdam and collaborating with Aalto University through the Erasmus+ Senior Talent project, Marco shares what keeps his work meaningful, what he hopes students take away from his courses, and why he considers Finland a surprisingly underrated food destination.
My name is Marco, and I am an Assistant Professor at the University of Amsterdam. I am also a postdoctoral researcher at the ENTU unit at Aalto University. Before that, I did my PhD at WU in Vienna, where I focused mostly on international HRM. In other words, I studied how HR practices differ depending on national cultures and broader contextual factors. Earlier, I completed master’s degrees in both psychology and management, and my PhD gave me the chance to bring those two perspectives together. I was especially interested in how macro-level forces eventually shape micro-level behaviour.
My connection to Aalto began with one of those emails you just do not forget. It was a grey November morning, the kind where the weather is miserable, and you are not exactly having the best day. Then, out of nowhere, I got a message from Astrid Reichel, a colleague of mine in Vienna. She asked if I might be interested in joining a project led by Ewald Kibler in Finland. I was super excited. It felt like the opportunity of a lifetime. That same day, I spoke to both Ewald and a friend of mine, Gloria, who had worked at Aalto. I think Ewald saw it as a job interview. I saw it as a chat.
At that point, I was still finishing my PhD and the timing was not quite clear, so it took a couple of months to come together. In the meantime, I had accepted the position in Amsterdam. But in the end, we found a really good setup. I now get to be part of the Senior Talent project at Aalto while also developing my role at Amsterdam Business School. It is a very nice mix. ENTU gives me an entrepreneurial lens, and Amsterdam allows me to stay rooted in more conventional HR and leadership research.
I spent most of my student years in Austria, around ten years in total, though I also had some detours to the US and the UK. One difference that really stood out to me was the way teaching and grading are handled. In Austria, it is quite normal to use the full grading scale, including top marks. But in the US, the UK, and now also in the Netherlands, it is rare to get a top grade. You barely ever see a nine or ten.
Another big difference is the level of formality in academic interactions. In the German-speaking context, you usually address teachers using formal titles and a very polite third-person structure. In the English-speaking world, and also in Finland and the Netherlands, you are usually on a first-name basis. That changes the dynamic quite a lot and makes conversations feel more open and approachable, which I really enjoy.
Of course, the downside is that I now receive a lot more emails from students. But in a strange way, it feels closer to the original idea of the university as described by Humboldt, where students and faculty are seen as colleagues in a shared learning process. I feel like that spirit is still alive in places like ENTU.
Sometimes I ask myself the same question. I think working a lot helps, but only if you truly enjoy what you are doing. If you are just putting in long hours because you have to, it gets frustrating. For me, most of the time, it actually feels good because I like the work.
What also helps is having people around who support the cause and keep things moving, even when you are not available. Having that kind of support system in both places is something I really value. Being connected to two universities can mean twice the complexity, but it also means twice the resources.
What keeps me motivated is the variety in this job. I think there are few roles as diverse as that of a researcher. One day you’re a teacher, the next you’re a programmer or a data scientist. Sometimes I even feel like a facility manager. That kind of mix keeps it fun, and I genuinely feel like I learn something new every single day.
Much of my PhD involved managing large, international projects, sometimes with over 40 partner institutions. So I felt well prepared to join something cross-national like the Senior Talent project. What really interested me was the focus on small and medium-sized enterprises. SMEs are often overlooked in HR research. Many of them do not have a formal HR department, or they outsource it completely. And yet they make up a huge part of the economy.
I am also very curious about blue-collar work. Like SMEs, this area is under-researched. One reason is that blue-collar workers are harder to reach. They do not sit at a desk waiting to receive emails from researchers. I have tried many times to involve them, often with little success. It is frustrating, because it widens the gap between academic research and everyday working life. That is something I want to help change.
On a more personal level, this project resonates with my own experience. My parents are counting the days to retirement, while I often feel like I am running out of time to do more. Each year that passes adds pressure. I want to understand why some people seem eager to stop working, while others stay deeply engaged. Some work to live, others live to work, and that’s a big question I hope we can better understand through this project.
I am proud of many of my publications, but one that stands out at the moment is a book chapter I recently wrote with Wolfgang Mayrhofer and Felix Diefenhardt. It has not been published yet, but it explores how predictive analytics is starting to shape careers. I often compare it to wearables like a smartwatch that tells you how well you slept or predicts your marathon pace. The same thing now happens to careers. CVs are scanned, fit scores are assigned, and algorithms try to predict whether you are a good match. The results are often questionable, but the shift is happening.
What I really enjoyed about this project was the mix of perspectives. Felix is a sociologist, Wolfgang is a business scholar through and through, and I come at the topic more from a psychological angle. That combination allowed us to look at the issue from multiple sides. It may not be a career-defining publication, but it was just super fun to write. And that counts too.
What I find most interesting are complex and sometimes paradoxical questions, like how to motivate people who are counting the days to retirement to stay engaged, and why others have no intention of slowing down at all. I’m also not so interested in testing whether one leadership style is more effective than another using complex statistical models. I’m more curious about how different styles affect different people in different ways.
I also care a lot about improving the way we do research. That includes refining our methods, using better questionnaires, and finding ways to understand causality more clearly. These are things I would like to focus more on. Overall, I want my work to contribute to making work life better and more meaningful. I sometimes tell myself that this connects to the UN’s Sustainable Development Goal about decent work, and I hope that’s true.
At the University of Amsterdam, I teach three courses: Management and Leadership in a Digital Age, People Analytics, and Change Management. These courses span three very different groups of students. The first is a bachelor’s-level elective with around 300 students. The second is a master’s-level course with about 60 students. The third is part of an executive master’s programme, where the class consists entirely of working professionals, usually around 20 participants.
Having these three different audiences is something I really value because the insights from one group often help me teach the others better. In all of my teaching, I try to emphasise that things are rarely completely good or bad. Whether we are talking about leadership, digital tools, or organisational change, I want students to think critically and understand the trade-offs involved.
Take Microsoft Teams, for example. It is convenient because you can reach people quickly and access shared files easily, but there are also downsides. People may feel overwhelmed or monitored. The same applies to people analytics. Used well, it can support better decisions, but if misused, it can feel invasive or controlling for employees. I want students to become aware of these complexities and to learn how to use such tools wisely and responsibly. My goal is to help them become more reflective and critical thinkers.
Honestly, it has been a great experience. ENTU has a really rare blend of super ambitious people who are also very collegial, friendly, and fun. Every time I visit Aalto, I end up spending much more time at the office than planned, but I go home smiling. The atmosphere is supportive and people are always approachable. It is easy to ask questions, and someone is usually around to help.
More generally, Aalto feels like a young university. Things move quickly, the systems are modern, and you notice a strong design element everywhere. Everything looks great and feels organised. I used to work at much older universities, like the University of Vienna which dates back to the 17th century. That sense of freshness at Aalto is something I have really come to appreciate and often find myself missing elsewhere.
There have been many moments like that, not just one. I would love to say I feel that way every day, but that would not be true. Still, there have been a lot of important moments along the way.
Conferences are one example. When you are having great discussions with people who care about the same topic, and you hear different views and perspectives, you really learn a lot. These are the kinds of moments that get me out of bed in the morning.
Another example is supervising master’s theses. Unfortunately, there are only a few situations where you get to work so closely with one student over time. But when you do, it is great to see how they become more confident, how their writing becomes more concise, and how they move from struggling at first to producing a thesis that almost reads like an academic paper. That is very rewarding. And of course, every time a paper or book chapter is accepted, it is also a nice moment, because you feel like you are not the only one who sees value in the work you are doing.
There are definitely a few things that have stayed with me. First of all, the coffee. The amount of coffee people in Finland drink is impressive, and having a Moccamaster seems to be essential in every kitchen.
Something else I noticed is how reliable people in Finland are. It can take a while to build rapport, and sometimes it feels hard to connect at first. But once you do, it feels like you have a friend for life. That has been my experience.
And one thing I really did not expect was the food. I have had some of the best meals of my life in Finland. Even the student canteen at Aalto has amazing food. People often think of France or Italy when they think of good food, but now I also associate Finland with great dining. In fact, I sometimes think of Finns as the Nordic Italians.
And despite the high alcohol prices, people still spend money to enjoy a good pint at Fat Lizard. That always stood out to me when I visited.
