Duygu Turker

Which factors affect entrepreneurial intention of university students

– Fostering entrepreneurship needs a twofold policy that should focus on both the current situation and future prospect of entrepreneurship. Although many scholars and policy makers devote their attention to the first foci of issue, it is equally important to map out the future context of entrepreneurship. The purpose of this paper is to fill this void by analysing the impacts of some contextual factors on entrepreneurial intention of university students., – In the study, a model was proposed and empirically tested on a sample of 300 university students in Turkey. The entrepreneurial support model (ESM) considers predominantly the impact of contextual factors on entrepreneurial intention. In the model, entrepreneurial intention is taken as a function of educational, relational, and structural supports., – The results of the survey showed that educational and structural support factors affect the entrepreneurial intention of students., – The paper contributes to the literature by theorizing and empirically testing how some factors affect the entrepreneurial intention of university students. Although the study is subject to some limitations, it is believed that these limitations can be overcome with further studies., – The results of the study may have valuable implications for the policy makers and educators., – Since todays youth are the potential entrepreneurs of the future, understanding their perception about contextual factors can be a contribution to the development of the literature and an important step in designing a more effective policy mechanism.

Local or global

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore the link between the globalization/adaptation debate and corporate foundation activity within a small subset of such foundations. In the light of this debate, the study analyzes the corporate social responsibility (CSR) approaches of this sample of corporate-owned foundations using the tri-dimensional CSR research model of Arthaud-Day (2005) to articulate the perspective, content and strategic orientations of the companies. Design/methodology/approach – The study selects three different corporate foundations based on internationalization scale and field of activities. A content analysis methodology is applied to the data collected from the official web sites of 24 corporate foundations. Findings – The analysis results show a general compatibility between the subsidiaries and the main branches of the corporate foundations, at least on the conceptual level. However, the practices of CSR activities, targeted stakeholders or content domains differ at the opera...

Islamic Roots of Corporate Social Responsibility

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) has been widely accepted as a useful framework between business and society during the last decades. Depending on its increasing popularity among business enterprises, the scholars have also focused on its antecedents and consequences. As a significant reference for many people’s lives, religion has been seen as one of these antecedents which affect attitudes and behaviours of decision makers towards CSR. The current study particularly focuses on the role of Islam in shaping socially responsible behaviour among businesses. In doing so, the study follows the key texts of Islam and provides an integrated model of CSR within Islam by using CSR Pyramid on economic, legal, ethical, and philanthropic responsibilities. This critical perspective shows that Islam provides a strong support for the existence of these dimensions both on the theoretical (aqidah) and practical (ibadah) levels from an anthropocentric approach. Among these dimensions, the philanthropy attracts the attention of many businesses operating in the Muslim countries. Therefore, contrary to what many people think, these Islamic roots are closely overlapping with dominant Western paradigm on CSR. However, these spiritual approaches must be backed up with a sound institutional mechanism in order to strengthen CSR within the business community in Muslim countries.

An Analysis of Corporate Social Responsibility in the Turkish Business Context

Depending on the increasing social and environmental problems, corporate social responsibility (CSR) has been promoted by both national and international bodies to achieve the principles of sustainable development at the organizational level. Since the concept has provided a significant framework for the relations between business and society, this corporate response can be particularly crucial for the problems in the developing country context. Therefore, it is important to understand how CSR is adopted and practiced by the organizations in such countries to improve the overall quality and quantity of CSR involvement. The purpose of current study is to analyse the evolution of CSR conception in Turkey as a developing country. Considering its unique position between East and West, Turkey provides a different political, economic, social, and cultural context for CSR conception than other European counties. The concept has built on the philanthropic heritage of Ottoman period and then evolved in line with the dependency relationship between business and state during the Republican period. Despite the increasing attention of organizations towards CSR during the last decade, it seems that the institutional environment continues to affect the nature and structure of CSR involvement in Turkey.

Linking values and ideologies: a scale of managerial social responsibility values

Purpose The literature on corporate social responsibility (CSR) provides fragmented and sometimes contradictory empirical findings on the role of managerial values in CSR. This is partly due to the absence of a unifying framework and its subsequent measurement. Following the Schwartz’s (1994) Value Survey (SVS), this study aims to provide an original scale to measure CSR values based on their ideological underpinnings of classical liberalism and economic egalitarianism. Design/methodology/approach Following the scale-development procedure, a scale was developed in six steps and tested on a sample of 105 Turkish managers through confirmatory factor analysis. Findings On the basis of a sound theoretical construct, the study provides an original and reliable measurement tool to capture the link between ideology and values. A scale with a four-factor solution as self-transcendence, self-enhancement, openness to change and conservation was obtained at the end of the process. Research limitations/implications Despite that the sample size was relatively small and drawn from a single country setting, the model has a reasonable fit to the data, and the scale is reliable at 0.869 Cronbach’s alpha value. Therefore, the scale can be used in future studies to reveal the nature, structure and magnitude of socially responsible managerial values based on their ideological roots. Social implications Although the managerial values towards CSR have been studied for a long time, the interwoven relations of such values with diverse ideological stances are not clearly investigated in literature. By linking values and ideologies on a theoretical ground, the scale developed in this study can be used as a valuable tool to better understand socially responsible behaviours of managers in our modern societies. Originality/value Considering the fragmented body of knowledge in literature, this scale can be useful for both scholars and practitioners when exploring the ideologically driven and value-laden nature of socially responsible behaviours.

An Analysis of Interdepartmental Relations in Enterprise Resource Planning Implementation: A Social Capital Perspective

Enterprise resource planning ERP has become one of the most popular information systems among companies that want to continue and expand their operations in the long run. The purpose of this study was to analyze the impact of interdepartmental relations, conceptualized as frequency of interaction, trust, coordination and power, on departmental performance from a social capital perspective. The findings of the study revealed that three components of interdepartmental relations frequency of interaction, trust, and coordination only emerged as significant factors in departmental performance when ERP was used effectively within the department.

Ethics of social responsibility to indirect stakeholders: a strategic perspective

The responsibilities of organisations to their stakeholders have gained a strategic importance over the last decades. Following the literature on stakeholder management, a firms stakeholders can be grouped into three classes on the basis of their positions in organisational environment, as internal, direct and indirect stakeholders. Whereas internal and direct stakeholders attract increasing attention from corporate managers, indirect stakeholders have usually been neglected by the practitioners. The purpose of this study is to provide an ethical approach on how a business organisation can conceptualise its responsibilities to indirect stakeholders and suggest strategic steps to adopt this approach for long-term competitive advantage. In tandem with its conceptual framework, the study classifies existing implications of responsible corporate action towards indirect stakeholders among cost leadership, differentiation and focus strategies.

Social Responsibility Education in Turkey

As a developing country that has experienced severe economic, social, and environmental conditions due to the absence of institutional supports and arrangements, Turkey urgently needs to adopt a new business paradigm that is built on a strong commitment to sustainable development with the integration of diverse stakeholders. In doing so, the concept of social responsibility can provide a viable framework at the individual, organizational, and national levels. Springing the new ideas and conveying these ideas into the real systems though their students, the universities have critical roles in such a large-scale transformation of individuals, organizations, and nations towards sustainable and socially responsible philosophy. Despite its increasing importance over the business sector and academic community, the nature, structure, and implications of social responsibility education has not properly explored in Turkish context. The purpose of this study is to give an overall profile of social responsibility education at Turkish universities, and then provide the quality and quantity of social responsibility education at Yasar University as one of the best cases in Turkey. The results of the survey which was conducted on 239 students at Yasar University reveal that when the students view social responsibility as a critical element of doing business, their attitudes as consumers and prospective employees significantly positively changes towards socially responsible organizations.

A longitudinal study on newcomers’ perception of organisational culture

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to analyse how newcomers’ perceptions of organisational culture can change over time. The study tries to address whether initial working experience changes newcomers’ perceptions about the ideal organisational culture, and whether these perceptions converge with those of their supervisors. Design/methodology/approach – A longitudinal survey was carried out on a sample of undergraduate students to measure shifts in their perceptions of organisational culture over time. In order to interpret the results in terms of actual organisational culture, a survey was also conducted with the students’ immediate supervisors. Findings – Applying a factor analytic procedure to the aggregate sample of study, the items of an existing scale were reduced to a six-dimensional structure. Based on the results of statistical analysis, the study revealed that initial working experience might affect students’ perception of organisational culture and make these perceptions converge with those...

What Are the Outcomes of Social Responsibility

The popularity of CSR at the last decades can be partly explained by companies increasing recognition and awareness on the fact that doing good can pay off in the long run. Although these organizational level outcomes are important to encourage the company to maintain its commitment in the future and stimulate the competitors to follow the socially responsible counterparts, the outcomes of CSR are not only limited by these organizational level variables. In the current chapter, similar to the analysis of its antecedents, the consequences of CSR have been also articulated at the (1) micro or individual level, (2) meso or organizational level, and (3) macro or environmental level. At the individual level, most scholars focus on the impact of socially responsible business decisions and activities to the managers’ career, benefits or further decisions. Although there is a growing interest of scholars to the impact of CSR to organizational level variables, the literature mostly neglects its implications at the institutional and global levels. In order to connect CSR with United Nations’ (UN) sustainable development goals (SDGs), there is a need for more clear understanding on the larger level implications of CSR.