Nelli Hankonen

I am professor of social psychology and the leader of Behaviour Change and Wellbeing research group. My 
research focuses on motivation, behaviour change, interaction and behavioural public policy. I have led several 
intervention research projects with mixed-methods development and evaluation designs, as well as projects 
with systematic review, meta-analytical and expert consensus methodologies. Recent years have focused on 
taking a new paradigmatic lens – that of complex systems – on behaviour change science. 

 

My research interests include the following topics:

• Motivational interaction: Changing motivational behaviours of professionals
• Behaviour change science
• Agentic change processes: Self-enactable behaviour change techniques
• Intervention development & fidelity
• Innovative intervention process evaluation methodologies
• Behavioural public policy
• Emerging connections between complexity science and behaviour change science

Editorial/Reviewing Activities and Scientific Evaluations (selection)

2020–              Editorial Board Member, Annals of Behavioral Medicine

2018–2023    Editorial Board Member, Health Psychology Review

2016–              Review Editor, Frontiers in Psychology (Social and Personality Psychology Section)

2017–2020    Associate Editor, Applied Psychology: Health & Well-being

Membership and positions of trust in scientific communities (selection)

2015–18         Executive committee member and National Editor, Practical Health Psychology Blog (EHPS); Advisory committee member 2018–

2014–19              National delegate for Finland, European Health Psychology Society

2014–              Member of the executive board, Finnish Psychological Society (SPS)

2012–2017    Member and President (2013–16) of board, Section for Health Psychology, Finnish Psychological Society (SPS)

2008–2012    (Vice) Member of the board Section of Behavioral Medicine (Finnish Society for Social Medicine)

2008–2009    Member of the executive committee, CREATE – Collaborative Research and Training in the EHPS    

Hankonen, N. (2021) Participants’ enactment of behavior change techniques: A call for increased focus on what people do to manage their motivation and behaviour. Health Psychology Review 15 (2), 185-194. https://doi.org/10.1080/17437199.2020.1814836 

Martela, F., Hankonen, N., Vansteenkiste, M. & Ryan, R. (2021) Fostering Voluntary Compliance for Effective Emergency Response and Sustainable Crisis Management: Principles for Motivating Communication of Behavioural Restrictions and Guidelines Based on Self-Determination Theory. European Review of Social Psychology 32 (2), 305-347. https://doi.org/10.1080/10463283.2020.1857082 

Hagger, M., Cameron, L., Hankonen, N., Hamilton, K., & Lintunen, T. (Eds.) (2020). The Handbook of Behaviour Change. Cambridge University Press. 

Renko, E., Knittle, K. P., Palsola, M., Lintunen, T., & Hankonen, N. (2020) Acceptability, reach and implementation of a training intervention to enhance teachers' skills in physical activity promotion. BMC Public Health, 20, 1568. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-020-09653-x 

Palsola, M., Kostamo, K., Renko, E., Lorencatto, F., Hankonen, N. (2020). Thematic analysis of acceptability and fidelity of engagement for behaviour change interventions: The Let’s Move It intervention interview study. British Journal of Health Psychology, 25, 772–789. https://doi.org/10.31234/osf.io/34ges

Knittle, K., Heino, M. T. J., Marques, M., Stenius, M., Beattie, M., Ehbrecht, F., Hagger, M. S., Hankonen, N. (2020) The compendium of self-enactable techniques to change and self-manage motivation and behaviour (v1. 0). Nature Human Behaviour. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41562-019-0798-9 

Kostamo, K., Jallinoja, P., Vesala, K, Araujo-Soares, V Sniehotta, F., Hankonen, N. (2019) Using the critical incident technique for qualitative process evaluation of interventions: The example of the "Let's Move It" trial. Social Science & Medicine 232, 389-397. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2019.05.014 

Seppälä, T., Hankonen, N., Korkiakangas, E., & Ruusuvuori, J. (2017). National policies for the promotion of physical activity and healthy nutrition in the workplace context: a Behaviour Change Wheel guided content analysis of policy papers in Finland. BMC Public Health, 18(1), 87. doi: 10.1186/s12889-017-4574-3

Stenius, M., Hankonen, N., Haukkala, A., & Ravaja, N. (2016). Why share expertise? A closer look at the quality of motivation to share or withhold knowledge. Journal of Knowledge Management, 20(2), 181-198.

Hankonen, N., Sutton, S., Prevost, A. T., Simmons, R. K., Griffin, S. J., Kinmonth, A. L., & Hardeman, W. (2015). Which behavior change techniques are associated with changes in physical activity, diet and body mass index in people with recently diagnosed diabetes? Annals of Behavioral Medicine, 49(1), 7-17. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12160-014-9624-9 

Hankonen, N., Absetz, P., Kinnunen, M., Haukkala, A. & Jallinoja, P. (2013). Toward identifying a broader range of social cognitive determinants of dietary intentions and behaviour. Applied Psychology: Health and Well-Being, 5(1), 118-35. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1758-0854.2012.01081.x