Ph.D. Theses
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Item Corporate governance and financial distress : global evidence, macroeconomic governance factors, and distress duration(Thesis (Ph.D.) - Bogazici University. Institute for Graduate Studies in Social Sciences, 2022., 2022) Çeliktaş, Mehmet.; Yılmaz, Neslihan.; Uğurlu, Mine.This study examines the impact of corporate governance mechanisms and ownership structures on financial distress through comparative analyses of the global, developed, and emerging market samples. Additional emphasis is given to the effects of macroeconomic governance factors and distress duration on the analyzed relationships. The results are based on a comprehensive sample of 6,539 firms and 49,950 firm-years from 23 developed and 27 emerging countries between 2006 and 2019. Sampling bias and endogeneity concerns are eliminated with detailed tests. The study finds that board size, board independence, CEO duality, ownership concentration, institutional blockholders, and strategic entity blockholders are significant determinants of financial distress, yet their effects differ across markets. Second, additional analyses of board structure show that independent board members have mitigating effects on dual CEO’s distress-increasing actions. Third, the effects of corporate governance and ownership attributes differ under varying levels of macroeconomic governance conditions. Specifically, levels of country investor protection and creditor rights significantly affect the impact of firm-level governance on financial distress. Fourth, distress duration influences the impacts of corporate governance and ownership attributes on financial distress. As firms remain distressed for consecutive years, effects of some governance and ownership variables begin to change, findings validated by the tracing of selected distressed firms.Item Sustainability in the Turkish business environment(Thesis (Ph.D.)-Bogazici University. Institute for Graduate Studies in Social Sciences, 2018., 2018.) Çelik, Tutku Seçkin.; Öz, Özlem.This thesis aims to find out and explain how firms in Turkey perceive sustainability, why and how do they get engaged in sustainability activities/reporting, while at the same time evaluating the hypothesized relationships based on institutional, legitimacy and stakeholder theories. Three-tiered mixed method study was employed to reach a deeper understanding about sustainability in the Turkish business environment. It was found that sustainability is well captured and understood with a positive connotation, however there is still more room for improvement. Organizations feel isomorphic pressures for sustainability, and see it as an instrumental tool to buffer these pressures. On the other hand, they strive for improving their sustainability initiatives and manage their efforts substantively. Studies on sustainability generally concerns performance outcomes of sustainability practices within the organizations, this study contributes to the literature by providing a richer understanding about the antecedents of sustainability through using qualitative and quantitative research together. Besides, it sheds light to the situation in a developing country Turkey, in which sustainability is overlooked and underresearched to date.Item Financial liquidity, financing constraints and financing patterns(Thesis (Ph.D.)-Bogazici University. Institute for Graduate Studies in the Social Sciences, 2019., 2019.) Karakoç, Bahadır.; Akgiray, Vedat.Separating firms into groups based on level of financing constraint proxied by size and stock market trading status, changes in financing patterns are investigated in times of high foreign capital flow and expansionary monetary policy. The study fulfills the need for analyzing the consequences of foreign capital flow at firm level and documenting its significance in addition to assessing the efficacy of contemporary monetary policy. Recent economic conditions significantly facilitated lending process, increasing credit supply and strengthening the access to conventional credit, and resulted in excessive borrowing both in the form of foreign and domestic currency. With such heavy burden of debt, the sector has become dependent on continuance of foreign capital entrance to maintain profitability and liquidity, while facing both exchange rate and the liquidity risks. The more severely a firm was previously challenged by financing limitations, the more it has borrowed once the limitations are removed, contributing to excessive debt burden of the economy in proportion to its previous financing constraints. Furthermore, significant changes in trade credit financing decisions are documented; as their access to bank loans is facilitated they reduced portion of interfirm credit, and increased bank financing and the supply of trade credit to smaller firms. Recent expansion in consumption and corporate sales may have motivated firms to supply more trade credit to promote sales and increase market share. Finally, monetary policy is found to be more effective on conventional credit channels than trade credit.Item A perceived service quality model in the sharing economy: The case of airbnb(Thesis (Ph.D.)-Bogazici University. Institute for Graduate Studies in the Social Sciences, 2019., 2019.) Açar, Murat.; Toker, Ayşegül.The shift from ownership to access, the results of endless hyper-consumption, and the change in value mindsets initiated a new phenomenon, which is Sharing Economy (SE). SE has given rise to the humanization of consumer-supplier relationship in tourism and hospitality (TH), and sharing has become a mainstream practice. Airbnb has revolutionized the TH service in a new form of the contractual relationship and gained well-grounded popularity. The customers’ willingness to share accommodation with a host in Airbnb as opposed to using a private hotel room has implications for TH in terms of perceived service quality of customers. In this study, a perceived service quality (PSQ) model is researched by text mining on user generated content in the Airbnb context. We first collect a massive amount of Airbnb guests’ textual review data, which is publicly available. Then, we analyze Airbnb guests’ Big5 personalities using these personal texts by linguistic analytics and state the psychometric insights. We find that Airbnb guests score high in extraversion and openness dimensions of Big5. Then, using the personality traits of consumers as a basis, we test our PSQ model, which is a combination of the seminal SERVQUAL service quality framework and additional cognitive and attitudinal factors. The findings include that the SERVQUAL model requires adjustment in this context, and it is well-enhanced by cognitive and attitudinal factors, including intimacy, authenticity, privacy, and security. The study also discusses additional exploratory findings on Airbnb guests’ textual review data through text mining.Item The effect of financial flexibility on corporate financial policies and performance: Cross-country evidence(Thesis (Ph.D.)-Bogazici University. Institute for Graduate Studies in Social Sciences, 2018., 2018.) Erdoğan, Seda.; Uğurlu, Mine.The aim of this thesis is to investigate the impact of financial flexibility (FF) on investments and firm value with a comparative analysis between developed and developing countries, giving special emphasis to whether the impact of FF changes between different countries with different levels of development. Moreover, we also have the objective of comprehending the effect of asymmetric information on the association not only between FF and investment, but also between FF and firm value. Using a large database of 4,334 and 1,436 companies from developed and developing countries from Europe, respectively, for the time period between 2000 and 2016; we provide evidence that FF, achieved through conservative leverage policy, enhances the investment level of companies and also positively contributes to firm value. Furthermore, financial flexibility’s impact on both investment and firm value is stronger for developing countries as compared to developed countries. Moreover, we also provide evidence that FF is more significant for companies with more information asymmetries, i.e. for smaller and younger companies and for companies in countries with less credit accessibility and poorer investor protection. On the other hand, using the 2008 global economic downturn as a natural experiment, we demonstrate that financial flexibility lets companies to lower the negative impact of economic downturn on investment. All in all, our results support the hypothesis that FF enhances companies’ investment capability and surges firm value up and finally the impact of financial flexibility is stronger for companies with higher information asymmetries.Item In pursuit of stronger bonds: The impact of experience and attachment on customer engagement(Thesis (Ph.D.)-Bogazici University. Institute for Graduate Studies in the Social Sciences, 2018., 2018.) Yavuz, Ramazan.; Toker, Ayşegül.While engagement literature deepens with particular engagement conceptualizations, engagement that occur in spatial environments and service settings remain largely under-researched although consumers develop interactive and co-creative relationships with places, which subsequently create, shape, and change their consumption behaviors in various ways. Broadening the customer engagement to include places as focal engagement objects offers promising potential to the advancement of our understanding of customer relationships in service settings. In this study, we develop the concept of place engagement that synthesizes customer engagement and experience concepts in marketing with place attachment theory. Place engagement, i.e., customers’ interactive, co-creative, and bi-directional relationships with places, explores how a human–place bond occurs beyond a uni-directional attachment which is induced by experiences. We empirically test experiences, attachment, and engagement interaction in a 790 respondent sample through structural equation modelling and find out that place attachment and experiences in places are central to creating place engagement. We further find that engagement drives consumer behaviors of word-of-mouth, electronic word-of-mouth, future visit, and tipping intentions. Optimum stimulation level and adoptive consumer innovativeness moderate these relationships.Item Networks and competitive advantage: Spontaneous vs. induced clusters(Thesis (Ph.D.)-Bogazici University. Institute for Graduate Studies in the Social Sciences, 2018., 2018.) Kavadarlı, Altın.; Öz, Özlem.The cluster concept, described as the geographical concentration of interconnected organizations, has received much attention in the field of strategic management. Porter’s (1998) diamond model suggests that clusters positively impact competitive advantage, since the proximity of businesses, customers, and suppliers urges all the firms to innovate and upgrade, so that productivity, innovation, and new business formation is increased. This qualitative study aims to analyze the network structures among firms in spontaneous vs. induced clusters based on the case studies of two types of hosiery clusters in different geographical locations in Istanbul (where most of the producers are located), one located in Ikitelli Industrial Zone (induced cluster) and the other located in Yesildirek district (spontaneous cluster). In-depth, semistructured, face-to-face interviews were held with hosiery firms in the two cluster types in order to get a holistic understanding of the present network structures as well as to explain how these network ties are potential sources of competitive advantage. The results supported the main hypothesis, as networks were found to be more intense in the spontaneous cluster relative to the induced cluster. Although located in the same cluster, the firms in the induced cluster did not develop close relationships with the other firms, therefore inter-firm relations can be described as weakly mutually dependent, or arm’s length in terms of Uzzi (1997). On the other hand, the existence of dense inter-firm networks, high level of cooperation, mutual-trust, knowledge-sharing, embedded and long-term relations among the firms in the Yesildirek spontaneous cluster has formed a solid base of support and trust.Item Bank competition, regulations, and stability in developed countries(Thesis (Ph.D.)-Bogazici University. Institute for Graduate Studies in the Social Sciences, 2018., 2018.) Danışman, Gamze.; Uğurlu, Mine.The objective of this dissertation is to first explore the influence of competition on bank stability. It is then examined how bank regulation and supervision variables in a country such as the stringency of capital requirements, restrictions on activities, and the power of supervisory authorities, affect bank stability directly and interact with competition in forming the risk-taking bank behavior. A sample of 6,936 banks in 25 developed countries in various parts of the world is used for the years 2007-2015. The findings show that competition-fragility view holds and the decrease in stability under competition arises from both more volatile profits and lower capitalization ratios. There is no evidence of non-linearity in competition and stability relationship as reported in the recent literature. Capital requirements appear to be a very successful regulatory tool in increasing bank stability, both directly and indirectly through interacting with market power. Lower activity restriction is another effective regulatory instrument to decrease bank risk-taking for any level of market power, but the restrictions on activities decrease bank risk more for banks with lower market power. Lower supervisory power emerges as another useful tool in increasing bank stability through decreasing overall bank risk, regardless of the level of market power. It is finally observed that the 2007-2009 financial crisis negatively influences bank soundness. However, it is found that banks with market power remained to be stable during the crisis period, through having lower profit volatility.Item Corporate control mechanisms and investment efficiency in developed European countries(Thesis (Ph.D.)-Bogazici University. Institute for Graduate Studies in the Social Sciences, 2018., 2018.) Vural Yavaş, Çiğdem.; Uğurlu, Mine.The objective of this dissertation is to examine the effect of corporate control mechanisms on firm investment policy, providing evidence from the developed European countries over the period 2000-2016. Leverage, debt maturity, institutional investors are the internal mechanisms while the product market competition is the external control mechanism. Besides providing evidence for the external validity of previous findings which mostly rest on the US market, this dissertation uses firm-level and industry-level product market competition measures and investment efficiency instead of using simple investment level to provide more reliable and comprehensive results for the investment policy of European firms. Classifying firms according to the deviations from their expected investment level allows us to figure out why control mechanisms work differently when a firm over- or underinvests. In the second part of the study, we analyze how each of the internal mechanisms affects investment efficiency under product market competition. This dissertation provides evidence that banks, through both lending and ownership, are the main controlling mechanisms for European firms. Besides leverage, institutional investors and competition are other control mechanisms mitigating the overinvestment problem by reducing the deviations from expected investment level. Moreover, our results demonstrate that leverage and institutional ownership reduce overinvestment when competition in the industry is low, which is consistent with the hypothesis that product market competition acts as a substitute governance mechanism.Item Antecedents of consumer intention to use personal health technologies: Revisiting the technology acceptance model(Thesis (M.A.) - Bogazici University. Institute for Graduate Studies in the Social Sciences, 2017., 2017.) Çalışkan, Semra.; Toker, Ayşegül.; Nasır, Aslıhan.This dissertation investigates the antecedents of consumer intention to use innovations, particularly health care innovations, from the perspective of diffusion of innovation and technology acceptance and use literature. We have witnessed substantial information technology (IT) innovations with everything from Internet of Things solutions to wearable technologies like smart watches. The possible effects of IT innovations like patient empowerment, self-health-management and health motivation make us curious about the underlying factors that lead to intention to use Personal Health Technologies (PHTs). This research contributes to the understanding of important phenomena, namely intention to use innovations, in consumer behavior context enriched with health related constructs. Besides perceived innovation attributes, contextual factors like health motivation and privacy were delineated in current study. One of the contributions of this study is investigating the mediation effects of ease of use and relative advantage over other innovation characteristics. In order to clarify the effects of individual characteristics, multi-group SEM analysis was conducted and discrepancies were discovered in the relationships. Users and potential users were compared to each other for conceiving divergence between pre adoption and post-adoption beliefs. Clusters were created with respect to values of individuals and analyzed the variations in usage intentions. Both multi-group SEM and cluster analysis contribute to generalizability of technology acceptance and use models.Item Organizational learning culture, the climate for innovation, and organizational resilience(Thesis (Ph.D.)-Bogazici University. Institute for Graduate Studies in the Social Sciences, 2017., 2017.) Özer, Alev.; Kabasakal, Hayat.The major aim of this thesis is to theoretically and empirically relate the concept of organizational resilience to its suggested antecedents as organizational learning culture and climate for innovation and explain how they can help to build latent resilience for organizations. In line with this objective, this study attempts to statistically analyze the antecedents of organizational resilience and provide explanation for whether climate for innovation has a mediating effect on the relationship between organizational learning culture and resilience. Moreover, this study suggests and investigates the potential moderating effect of dynamic environments on the relation between organizational learning culture and organizational resilience. Quantitative data, collected via survey administered to mid-level managers of small and medium sized enterprises and larger companies from Istanbul, is used to test the hypotheses developed in light of the related literature. Results provided corroborative empirical evidence for the mediating effect of climate for innovation on the relationship between organizational learning culture and organizational resilience, while not observing the suggested moderating effect of environmental dynamism on this mediated relationship. It is also revealed, that an increase in the transformational leadership characteristics of top management leads to high levels of both climate for innovation and organizational learning culture.Item The dispositional and contextual determinants and outcomes of self-leadership(Thesis (Ph.D.)-Bogazici University. Institute for Graduate Studies in the Social Sciences, 2017., 2017.) Turan, Sevgin Batuk.; Kabasakal, Hayat.Self-leadership has emerged as an important theory to substitute for designated leaders. Current business environment requires organizations to be more flexible and adaptive towards change. Self-leadership offers an opportunity for organizations to become more responsive via utilizing the potential of every single employee. Studies that investigate the antecedents of self-leadership have generally gathered around dispositional factors and neglected the contextual influences. This research aims to fill this gap by conducting two sequential studies. The quantitative part focuses on transformational leadership and high-performance work systems as situational antecedents and on proactive personality as a dispositional antecedent of self-leadership. As outcomes, work engagement and organizational citizenship behavior are investigated. At the second part, in-depth interviews are conducted to broaden the set of possible antecedents and consequences of self-leadership. The results show that transformational leadership, high-performance work systems and proactive personality contribute significantly to self-leadership whereas self-leadership contributes to work engagement and organizational citizenship behavior via the mediating effect of self-efficacy. In the second study, it is also seen that in contexts that offer autonomy, recognition, trust, competition and distributive justice, the exertion of self-leadership strategies is facilitated. Also, increased productivity and self-confidence, and more effective time/ stress management are stated as other outcomes of self-leadership.Item Mentoring, gender and ideological perspectives: a case study(Thesis (Ph.D.) - Bogazici University. Institute of Social Sciences, 1998., 1998.) Özen, Rana.; Kabasakal, Hayat.The purpose of this study is to find out the differences of mentoring relationship in a different organizational setting than described in the literature. This organization is characterized by its strong values that are shared by its members who have ideological bonds among them. The organization operates in the education sector, and it is one of private preparatory institutions for central university examination. The sample for this study consists of a total 34 respondents (17 dyads) composed of 16 female and 18 male teachers. In-depth interviews with dyads are conducted in Turkish. Additional interviews are conducted with the General Manager, unit managers of the institution, 11 members of staff, and 50 students and 50 parents as customers of the institution. The results of this study indicated that different mentoring relationships and different mentor types may be defined in a different organizational setting. The research was also formed on the differences about mentoring, and related factors. Different concepts were defined, and some unexpected findings were found in the organization. There is a formal mentoring program and a study group system in the institution. "Performance" is important as well as "ideological similarity" in the relationship between mentors and proteges. "Dominance of men" and "sex segregation" are different properties of the institution. It is seen that, new concepts that are observed in this organization were related to the experience of mentoring relationship. The new concepts, such as "togetherness", "altruism", "self-sacrifice", "trying to be a pure-bred horse", "being wise leader", "trying to do good things", "to give alms for knowledge", "co-religionist perspective", "working for God's sake", "transferring moral and ethical values", "ideological fit" and "consultation climate" appears to bring new dimensions to mentoring relationships in the organization.Item Financial vulnerability and the effects of financial openness on banking systems in emerging economies(Thesis (Ph.D.)-Bogazici University. Institute for Graduate Studies in the Social Sciences, 2017., 2017.) Köseoğlu, Bahar.; Okay, Nesrin.The main focus of this dissertation is on the dynamic relations between non-core funding, credit growth and soundness of banking systems in emerging markets. In addition to this, the study contributes to the literature by focusing on the effects of international capital flows on non-core financing and leverage. Forty-six countries were considered in the data collection process in line with MSCI (Morgan Stanley Capital International) emerging market and frontier market indices. In order to reach these goals, three sets of analyses were employed. First of all, a panel vector autoregression analysis was employed. The results of this analysis show that bank soundness promotes non-core funding, credit growth and risk premium in emerging markets. By contrast, bank soundness is affected inversely by private sector credits and non-core funding. In the second part of this dissertation, the effect of banking sector external liquidity access along with the financial openness level on none-core funding and growth of credits is investigated. The findings indicate a positive effect of external liquidity access on non-core funding. Findings also show that credits extended by the banking sector are enhanced by foreign asset stock. Finally, in order to test the Turkish banks’ soundness against non-core funding and leverage, CAMELS-type measures were utilized. The results show areducing effect of leverage on bank soundness in the Turkish banking system.Item Antecedents and consequences of brand love: The interplay between the self, engagement and attachment consequences(Thesis (Ph.D.)-Bogazici University. Institute for Graduate Studies in Social Sciences, 2016., 2016.) Kuşçu, Aslı.; Hesapçı, Özlem.The current study contributes to research and theory in marketing by presenting a holistic framework to analyze the effects of brands' hedonic, functional, and symbolic resources on brand love and its complex mechanisms with brand engagement, loyalty, word-of-mouth and willingness-to-price-premium using a large array of product categories and a large sample of consumers. In terms of consumer– brand relationships we extend theory by identifying two routes for brand love creation based on the type of primary benefit consumers associate with the brand: one goes through a cognitive consumer-brand identity evaluation and integration leading eventually to love; and here the hedonic positioning of the brand plays a role. The second way is when consumers develop feelings towards brands directly through symbolic and functional experiences. Product category differences influence the effects' strengths. As a second contribution, our findings indicate that cognitive brand engagement and brand love are closely linked to each other. We also find a moderate connection between affective engagement and brand love, but not for behavioral engagement. Lastly, we observe that considering the influence of brand love and engagement on word-of- mouth, loyalty, and willingness-to-price-premium, brand love is a stronger predictor for word-of-mouth and loyalty, whereas it is behavioral engagement for willingness-to-price-premium. Our findings enhance both theory on consumer-brand relationships over the delineated holistic framework and provide implications for practitioners to create and maintain strong, committed relationships with their consumers.Item Authentic leadership and leader-member exchange: The moderating effect of leader emotional expressivity(Thesis (Ph.D.)-Bogazici University. Institute for Graduate Studies in the Social Sciences, 2017., 2017.) Baker Arapoğlu, Nevra Bedriye.; Kabasakal, Hayat.Authentic leadership theory and leader-member exchange theory suggest that there are positive direct relationships between leader authenticity, high-quality leader-member exchange relationships and follower job outcomes. Previous work corroborates these positive relationships. However, former studies have not considered the effect of the emotional expressions of leaders on these relationships. The present dissertation attempts to contribute to the leadership literature by explaining the moderating effect of leader emotional expressivity on the direct relationship between authentic leadership, leader-member exchange and follower job outcomes. Accordingly, quantitative data, collected via survey administration to front-line employees of service-rendering companies from Istanbul and their immediate supervisors is used to test the hypotheses developed in light of the relevant literature. Results provided corroborative empirical evidence for the moderating effect of leader emotional expressivity on the relationship between authentic leadership, leader-member exchange and follower job outcomes, while confirming the positive direct relationship between authentic leadership, leader-member exchange and follower job outcomes. Accordingly, the findings of this study revealed that the strength of leader emotional expressivity weakened the positive contributions of authentic leadership and leader-member exchange to follower job outcomes for leaders who are highly authentic or who engage in a high level of LMX. On the other hand, higher leader emotional expressivity compensates for the low levels of authenticity and LMX in terms of increasing follower job outcomes.Item Determinants of quality and productivity in automobile services: MADM approaches and empirical analysis(Thesis (Ph.D.)-Bogazici University. Institute for Graduate Studies in Social Sciences, 2016., 2016.) Gençer, Yasin Galip.; Akküçük, Ulaş.Quality and productivity are two important concepts for all businesses including automobile services. This research study is a PhD dissertation at Bogazi9i University and has the goal of examining the determinants of quality and productivity in automobile services by Multi Attribute Decision Making and empirical analysis. Thus it includes three separate parts all of which are associated with the automobile sector. The first part of the study aims to measure productivity in automobile aftersales business whereas the second part looks for a scale to measure the service quality in automobile aftersales, and the last part uses this AutoServQual scale to compare automobile brands in Turkey. A literature review of related theories done in all parts includes Multi Attribute Decision Making Theory in the first part, Service Quality Measurement Methods in the second part, and the Turkish Automotive Industry in the last part. Data Envelopment Analysis is selected to compare automobile aftersales services at stations of a specified brand in Turkey. In the second part, ServQual scale is selected for adaption to the automobile services by the name of AutoServQual using studies of focus groups, item generation and pilot survey; this new scale is now available for use in international studies in the area of automobile services. The last part of the study compares different automobile brands by using the results of a recently generated AutoServQual scale to find out the strong and weak sides of automobile aftersales services in Turkey with the use of SPSS and AMOS software. ivItem The transgenerational sustainability of family firms(Thesis (Ph.D.)-Bogazici University. Institute for Graduate Studies in Social Sciences, 2016., 2016.) Erdoğan, Irmak.; Kabasakal, Hayat.Given the economic significance of family firms and their low rates of survival, understanding the factors that contribute to the transgenerational sustainability of family firms has been an important subject of research. In this dissertation, the topic of transgenerational sustainability of family firms is explored in light of three research studies conducted in Turkey. In Chapter 1, the significance of the topic is explained, and three research studies are introduced. In Chapter 2, the construct of commitment is explored in the context of next-generation members of the family firm. Based on in-depth interviews with 22 members of 17 long-lived family firms in Turkey, a model to explain the distinctive nature of commitment, as well as the roots of commitment in childhood and adolescence is developed. In Chapter 3, following an alternative approach to the study of transgenerational sustainability, the focus is on the entrepreneurial behavior of family firms. The purpose of this chapter is to explore the different ways in which long-lived family firms manage to be innovative while remaining firmly anchored to their traditions. In Chapter 4, through a survey among 252 owner-managers of family firms in Turkey, the effects of family social capital on owner manager’s intention for transgenerational sustainability are investigated. In Chapter 5, findings of three research studies are integrated and conclusions are drawn. Through combining different research methods and alternative approaches to the research topic, this dissertation aims to enhance our understanding of the factors that contribute to the transgenerational sustainability of family firms.Item Learning orientation and market information processing: effects on marketing and organizational outcomes(Thesis (Ph.D.)-Bogazici University. Institute for Graduate Studies in Social Sciences, 2016., 2016.) Çaloğlu, Hale.; Karaca, Hüseyin Sami.This study proposes a theoretical model, which relates learning orientation directly and also indirectly through market information processing and marketing effectiveness to organizational performance. A second study model, which explicitly recognizes the differential effects across these measures, is also developed. The significance of this study stems from its integrative approach to fragmented streams of literature, which analyze the links between learning orientation, market information processing, marketing effectiveness, new product success and financial performance. The two theoretical models are tested with data collected from 114 companies through structured questionnaires. The findings suggest three significant routes between learning orientation and financial performance. The first route indicates that learning orientation helps the firms to successfully process market information, effectively implement marketing activities for new market - driven product offerings, and thus achieve superior financial performance. The second significant route implies that a learning oriented firm can successfully introduce new market-driving products and achieve subsequent financial success without focusing on its markets. Finally, the third significant route hints that learning oriented firms do not only attain superior financial performance by introducing new products, but also by focusing on their current markets and effectively marketing their current product offerings.Item Psychological empowerment: antecedents, correlates and consequences(Thesis (Ph.D.)-Bogazici University. Institute for Graduate Studies in Social Sciences, 2015., 2015.) Asarkaya, Çiğdem.; Kabasakal, Hayat.This study examines, with an integrative perspective, the effects of employees’ perceptions about the empowering behavior of their immediate supervisor on employees’ psychological empowerment, and the effects of employees’ psychological empowerment on their job satisfaction, extrinsic reward satisfaction, affective commitment towards their organizations, turnover intentions; and task performance and organizational citizenship behavior. In addition, this study makes comparisons between the strength of some of the hypothesized relationships. The constructs of the study are examined with a preliminary qualitative study, which consists of 10 in-depth interviews, and the relationships among these constructs are investigated with a quantitative research that comprises a survey. Data are collected from 250 employees, and their (19) supervisors who work in 18 different firms from different industries operating in Istanbul, Turkey; and hypothesized relationships are analyzed with structural equation modeling procedure in AMOS18. The primary finding of the study is that there is a strong relationship between enhancing meaningfulness- providing autonomy dimension of empowering behavior of supervisors and employees’ psychological empowerment. Another important finding is that there are positive relationships between empowering behavior of supervisors and employees’ job satisfaction, extrinsic reward satisfaction, and affective commitment.