International Journal of Research in Business and Social Science

Social media and social media tools have improved rapidly and started to influence society especially in recent years. This influence has forced businesses to revolutionize their communication with the external environment. The fact that Web 2.0 has an influence on consumer behavior, and that it makes the consumers stronger; requires faster, more flexible and more sensitive communication processes in businesses. Especially during a time of crisis, a business’ communication with the external environment is quite critical. For this reason, the way how the crisis communication is managed through social media is vital for businesses. In this article, the perceptions of how to manage businesses during a time of crisis so that they make minimum loss, is shared.

The aim of this research is to understand the factors behind smartphone purchase decisions of consumers. Nowadays companies make use of various strategies in order to attract new customers, retain existing customers and differentiate their products from those of their competitors. Perhaps, the most important and effective strategy to influence consumer behavior in the product selection is emphasizing the “brand name” of the products. Our aim in this paper is to investigate how smartphone brands can influence consumers’ buying decisions. Brand equity is a set of brand assets and liabilities linked to a brand name and symbol, which add to or subtract from the value provided by a product or service. It enhances the customer’s ability to interpret and process information, improves confidence in the purchase decision and affects the quality of the user experience. Using this construct widely discussed in the literature, we use and build our hypothesis based on Aaker model about the brand equity, including perceived quality, brand awareness, brand association and brand loyalty. The study involved a questionnaire administered to 171 smartphone consumers between December 2015 and March 2016. The consumers were chosen by convenience sampling among the students from a prestigious university in the Istanbul district of Turkey. Our findings indicate that a majority of the smartphone buyers’ decisions are mainly influenced by brand loyalty and brand awareness. Perceived quality and brand association do not seem to influence purchase decisions for the sample of this study.

The relationship between leader and followers plays a vital role, particularly in educational institutions where a keen understanding of human character and high level of social interaction ought to be facilitated. For this reason, in stark contrast to contemporary leaders who see people only as units of production or expendable resources in a profit and loss statement, servant leadership focuses on meeting the needs of followers, making them reach their maximum potential and so perform optimally in order to achieve organizational goals and objectives. This study examines the effects of servant leadership behaviors of private college principals on teachers’ organizational citizenship behavior and job performance. Using 300 respondents from the private education institutes in Turkey, servant leadership behavior is examined for its indirect effects on organizational citizenship behavior and job performance by its impact on organizational justice. Organizational justice acts as a mediator between the variables in question. All the results are in support of the studied mediation effects. Implications of the findings and suggestions for future research are discussed.

In this study, 396 university students in Turkey are surveyed online regarding their attitudes towards financial issues, their level of financial knowledge, and their financial behavior. The latest version of OECD/INFE Financial Literacy Survey (2018) is used in the study. Using SPSS and LISREL. Factor analysis, Cronbach's Alpha, and Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) are used to analyze the relationship between financial knowledge of the participants with their financial attitude and behavior as well as the mediation effect of financial attitude in this relationship. In line with the common wisdom that the relationship between knowledge and behavior is higher if knowledge is better reflected in the attitude of the individual, the mediation effect of financial attitude strengthens the financial knowledge and financial behavior relationship.

Toxic leadership refers to the sum of the negative aspects of leaders within their leadership traits. Narcissistic leadership is a multidimensional structure that includes charismatic leadership and authoritarian leadership types. Toxic leaders can harm the organization, employees, and society in which they work. This research aims to determine the toxic characteristics of leaders working in public universities and to extract the attribute of organizational trust in job satisfaction. Turkey's Istanbul made the data collected through face-to-face survey research methods in 470 people working in the public university hospital in the province were analyzed by analysis methods used in social sciences. As a result of the analysis, a negative significant relationship between toxic leadership and organizational trust, a negative significant relationship between toxic leadership and job satisfaction and its sub-dimensions, and a positive significant relationship between organizational trust and job satisfaction and its sub-dimensions were found. Toxic leadership affects managerial job satisfaction and company policy-based job satisfaction through the full set of organizational trust. In addition, toxic leadership has also been found to be effective on job satisfaction arising from employees through partial organizational trust

This study examines the magnitude, timing, and persistence of export gains from Turkey’s regional trade agreements (RTAs), addressing why previous studies found null effects despite extensive preferential liberalization. A structural gravity framework analyzes Turkey’s bilateral exports to over 160 partners (1996–2020) using PPML estimation with country-pair fixed effects. Dynamic RTA indicators capture anticipation and phased-in effects over twelve years, while time-varying border coefficients isolate policy effects from globalization trends. RTAs generate large, persistent export gains that accumulate gradually rather than immediately. Cumulative effects reach 815 percent over twelve years without globalization controls, or 102 percent when secular trends are absorbed, both of which are economically substantial. The absence of anticipation effects validates causal interpretation. Trade agreements function as medium- to long-term integration instruments. Policy continuity and complementary domestic reforms amplify RTA benefits. This study provides the first comprehensive dynamic assessment of Turkey’s RTA effects within a structural gravity framework, resolving puzzling null findings from earlier specifications and establishing bounds on policy-attributable export gains.

This study mainly aimed to examine the impact of university students' purchasing tendency from e-commerce sites and demographic characteristics on student satisfaction through the example of a leading foundation research university in Türkiye. In the study, it was investigated whether there was a significant difference between students' purchasing tendencies from e-commerce sites and student satisfaction. It was also investigated whether there was a significant difference between demographic characteristics and student satisfaction. Methodologically, a descriptive online survey method including a questionnaire was applied to collect data. The survey was responded by 240 randomly selected students. The data were analyzed with SPSS-26. The study concluded that there was no significant difference between the average daily time spent on the internet and the type of device used to connect to e-commerce sites, which are among the criteria reflecting the tendency to purchase from e-commerce sites, and student satisfaction whereas there was a significant difference between the number of products purchased through e-commerce sites and student satisfaction. Furthermore, it was revealed that there was no significant difference between demographic characteristics such as gender, marital status, education and monthly income and student satisfaction, whereas there was a significant difference between age and student satisfaction. Accordingly, it was indicated that the difference in terms of age was especially in favor of students in the 22-25 age group. It is thought that the study will contribute to the literature by examining the impact of university students' purchasing tendency from e-commerce sites and demographic characteristics on student satisfaction, together with the example of a leading foundation research university. The study is limited by the selected sample foundation research university, the number of students responded, survey questions-answers, the applied statistical analysis methods and tests. Therefore, in order to reach more general results, it is suggested to expand the studies with more diverse and larger numbers of foundation research universities, students, survey questions and statistical methods.

This study mainly aimed to examine the impact of the COSO’s internal control system components (Control Environment, Risk Assessment, Control Activities, Information-Communication, Monitoring) on corporate governance principles (justice, transparency, accountability and responsibility) through the example of a leading educational foundation in Türkiye. In the study, it was investigated whether there was a significant relationship between the perceptions of employees regarding the effects of the internal control system components on corporate governance. It was also investigated whether these perceptions differed according to demographic characteristics such as gender, age, education, length of service, position. Methodologically, a descriptive online survey method including a questionnaire was applied to collect data. The survey was sent to 234 participants in different departments and positions working in the foundation, and 197 employees responded. The data were analyzed with SPSS-22. The survey, which was suitable for a 5-point Likert scale, included statements regarding demographic characteristics and COSO’s main internal control components and corporate governance principles. The study concluded that all COSO components have a significant and positive relationship with corporate governance principles. In addition, a stronger relationship was revealed between transparency and accountability principles and internal control components compared to others. Furthermore, it was indicated that these perceptions differed according to demographic characteristics. While significant differences were found in perceptions according to demographic characteristics such as gender, age and position, no differences were found according to education and working years criteria. The study is considered to contribute to the literature because it is the first study to examine the impact of the main COSO internal control components on corporate governance principles, together with the example of a leading educational foundation. The study is limited by the selected sample educational foundation, the number of respondents, survey questions-answers, the applied statistical analysis method and tests. Therefore, in order to reach more general results, it is suggested to expand the studies with more diverse and larger numbers of educational foundations, employees, survey questions and statistical methods.

The study examines concerns regarding Islamic finance legislation in Ethiopia. Using a qualitative method, the study investigated the current legal and regulatory frameworks regarding Islamic finance and the challenges facing Islamic financial institutions in the country. In the study we conducted semi-structured interviews with 23 respondents, including executives, boards of directors, regulators, managers, shariah board members, and legal scholars familiar with the country's laws. The study's findings indicate an urgent necessity for an inclusive and robust legal structure specifically designed for the unique characteristics of Islamic financing. Enhanced supervisory oversight is essential for ensuring adherence to Sharia principles. Furthermore, the research findings demonstrate how important it is to set up a separate supervisory body within the National Bank of Ethiopia to keep an eye on Islamic financial institutions. Lastly, the study highlights the significance of having qualified professionals and Sharia scholars in Islamic financing. Integrating Islamic finance education into universities can enhance capacity-building for regulators, scholars, and finance professionals.

The findings underscore the significance of institutional stability and macro-financial predictability in maintaining export performance in volatile emerging economies. Enhancing regulatory quality, bolstering macro-financial stability, and augmenting enterprises' capacity to manage risk will facilitate more robust export results. Incorporating institutional and financial frictions directly into gravity models offers a more accurate framework for policy assessment. This research employs a structural gravity model, estimated using Poisson pseudo maximum likelihood, to analyse Turkey's bilateral export flows to 164 partner nations from 1996 to 2020. Political stability and exchange rate volatility are integrated as time-varying institutional and financial frictions. Indices of economic scale, geographical distance, and remoteness are incorporated to maintain alignment with structural gravity theory. The political stability of destination nations is a crucial positive factor influencing Turkish exports and signifies the existence of a governance premium. Exchange rate fluctuation exerts a sustained adverse impact, diminishing the anticipated advantages of nominal depreciation. Visual data indicates two consistent behavioural tendencies. Exporters are increasingly venturing into politically risky countries; yet, long-term export growth is constrained by institutional inertia and robust network dependencies. The findings indicate that institutional reliability and macro-financial predictability are crucial for maintaining export performance in volatile emerging economies. Enhanced regulatory quality, greater macro-financial stability, and superior firm-level risk management are essential for achieving more resilient export outcomes. Incorporating institutional and financial frictions directly into gravity models offers a more accurate framework for comprehending trade dynamics and formulating effective policies.