Necmi Gursakal

Measuring trust in an intra-organisational context using Social Network Analysis

In this article, the importance of trust and its consequences for management and organisation literature is analysed from the intra-organisational perspective. Social Network Analysis, which is referred to as Organisational Network Analysis when it is applied to business, was used to analyse trust in an organisation. A simple questionnaire was applied to employees of a medium size enterprise. This article aims to find which employees trust whom in a personal perspective. The findings imply that trust can create effective cooperation within enterprises that are directly associated with the performance, growth and survival of Small and Medium size Enterprises.

Hurst exponent analysis in Turkish stock market

This study is about the application of Hurst exponent in an emerging financial market, the Istanbul stock exchange (ISE). The aim of this study was to find out whether ISE daily return series has long-term dependency and multifractality by using Hurst exponent analysis. Hurst values of daily return series in the period January 1994-December 2007 were computed with the sliding window method. The findings show that the return series has long-term dependency for the first period (1994-2004), but for the second period (2004-2007), the series loses its long-term dependency. This shift reminds us that the return series has multifractality.

Always-on mobile phone behaviour impulsive and postmodern consumers

This paper investigates the antecedents of addictive-based mobile phone behaviour; a new phenomenon in mobile phone consumption. Specifically, it examines the effects of impulsive behaviour and post-modern consumer behaviour on the addiction of young consumers to mobile phones, which is reflected in leaving their cell phones switched on for 24 hours per day. This study has been conducted on 450 consumers from the cities of Bursa and Istanbul, Turkey. The results imply that post-modern consumer behaviour has a positive effect on all aspects of the addictive pattern of always-on behaviour, whereas impulsive behaviour has only a partial effect. Unreal world dimensions of postmodern consumer behaviour have a positive effect on addictive behaviour. Also, sensation-seeking, which is a part of the impulsive behaviour dimension, was assessed to have an effect on continuous connectivity. According to the knowledge of the authors this is the first interdisciplinary study explaining the antecedents of addictive mobile phone behaviour of young consumers. The innovative findings of the study are suggested to inform, besides other marketing related studies, also sociological and psychological studies on the identity and roles of young citizens in the society.

Surface roughness analysis of greater cutting depths during hard turning

Abstract Literally, hard machining describes machining of parts having hardness over 45 HRC. Besides its advantages like high metal removal rate, easiness of adapting to complex part geometries, possibility of dry cutting; this operation, which can substitute grinding in most cases, has some disadvantages. One of them is the significant increase of surface roughness due to tool wear even when the tool life limit is not exceeded. In this study, considering hard turning praxes, higher depths of cut (0.5 to 1.0 mm) were examined when dry turning AISI D2 cold work tool steel, through-hardened to 62 HRC. TiN coated mixed ceramic inserts (Al2O3 + TiCN) were employed in the operations. Relationship between surface roughness and cutting parameters (cutting speed, feed and depth of cut) was modeled and analyzed using a Box-Behnken response surface methodology (RSM) design. A linear model best described this relationship. Despite the higher depths of cuts, the surface roughness values achieved were comparable to those in grinding operations. Finally, the optimal values of cutting parameters for minimum surface roughness were predicted.

The moderating effect of feminist identity on transformational leadership and sales performance relationship

The purpose of this article is to evaluate the moderating effect of perceived feminist identity of women sales managers on transformational leadership and sales performance relationships. A web-based questionnaire was used and 140 women managers replied. Three main scales were used for analysis: Transformational leadership scale developed by Podsakoff et al (1990); sales performance scale derived from Behrman and Perreault (1982) and Sujan et al. (1994) and finally, the synthesis (S) stage of the feminist identity composite scale designed by Fischer et al. (2000). Two main hypotheses were tested by moderated regression. The main findings of the paper were that perceived feminist identity at the S stage has a moderating effect on the relationship between transformational leadership and sales performance and transformational leadership has a positive effect on sales performance as expected. This article will enhance sales management literature from a feminist perspective.