Ethem Duygulu

Silence Speaks in the Workplace: Uncovering the Experiences of LGBT Employees in Turkey

This chapter aims to explore the significance of employee silence from the viewpoints of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) individuals based on their unique experiences in the workplace. Through discussions in focus group interviews with LGBT participants in the city of Izmir, this study analyzes the way in which LGBT employees experience silencing at work. The research represents one of the few empirical studies to challenge the silence around LGBT workers’ experiences in Turkey. LGBT participants choose to remain silent at work for a variety of reasons, such as the risk of being exposed to social isolation or exclusion, the fear of dismissal and career obstacles, as well as the fear of being an object of derision and stigmatized at work, bullying, prejudicial reactions and discrimination. The study addressed three major dimensions of employee silence (defensive, acquiescent, and pro-social) as being relevant and meaningful in explaining how LGBT individuals are silenced at work. The exploratory findings highlight the possible consequences of LGBT silence on work behavior. Additionally, the impact of sexual or gender minority status on perceived discrimination and the actual challenges faced by LGBT employees are discussed, as well as the differences between them. As a result, given the overwhelming cultural norms based on heteronormativity within Turkish society, the absence of legal protection and the relative lack of organizational inclusionary policies and practices, coupled with the absence of trade union support, contribute to silencing LGBT individuals at work.

Entrepreneurial Intentions and Cultural Orientations. An Exploratory Analysis in Italian and Turkish Universities

The entrepreneurial intention (EI) framework is nowadays considered as a consolidated area of inquiry where different models can be used to understand what is behind an individual willingness to start a new venture in the future. Exploring entrepreneurial intentions of individuals represents a challenge not only for scholars but also for university education and policy-making aiming to monitor, contribute, and support entrepreneurial behaviours. We decided to join the EI scientific conversation through a two-country analysis. Our theoretical choices draw upon the Theory of Planned Behaviour applied to entrepreneurship emergence, which assumes that personal attitude, perceived behavioural control, and social norm influence the way an entrepreneurial career is perceived to be a possible choice. In our model, we originally decided to test for the effects of scenario-based cultural orientations. We administrate a cross-national questionnaire to two samples of students of belonging respectively to an Italian and a Turkish university. Data are finally analysed through PLS-SEM techniques. Our results suggest that variations in EI may be attributed to uncertainty avoidance and power distance. As well, an important role is played by entrepreneurship education.

Gaining insight into innovation culture within the context of R&D centres in Turkey

The aim of this article is to identify the major themes of innovation culture within the context of R%D centres. The research question formulated for this purpose is: What are the aspects of corporate culture that can support building an innovation culture? To address this research question, qualitative exploratory research design was employed and focus group methodology was adopted. The research was conducted on 38 enterprises out of 127 with official R%D centre certification in Turkey. This paper contributes to the existing literature based on eight dimensions (knowledge sharing, learning and development, social networks and cooperation, allocation of free time, tolerance of mistakes, rewarding and incentive system, managing differences and teamwork) that captures the interface between corporate culture and innovativeness. A unique definition of innovation culture was also proposed.