Browsing by Author "Watson, F."
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Item Embargo A fuzzy cognitive map approach to understand agricultural system and food prices in Türkiye: policy recommendations for national food security(John Wiley & Sons Ltd., 2023-11-16) Ekici, Ahmet; Önsel Ekici, Ş.; Yumurtacı Hüseyinoğlu, I. Ö.; Watson, F.Once one of the few self-sufficient food countries in the world, Turkey has become dependent on imports to feed its population. Food prices have climbed to among the highest in the world, severely threatening the food security of the country. Most researchers generally attributed the high prices to the increased input costs of agriculture. Although the role of input prices cannot be denied, this paper focuses on a neglected problem that can account for food price inflation: the attitudes and behaviours of farming communities towards agriculture. Through fuzzy cognitive map methodology, known to be very effective in understanding complex networks of problems, we identify and map the relationships among the factors affecting the agriculture system, develop interview and literature-driven scenarios, and test these scenarios to demonstrate their role in explaining the relationship between attitudes and behaviours of farming communities and food prices in Turkey. Our findings provide recommendations to policymakers.Item Open Access A model of consumer life-satisfaction amidst the COVID-19 pandemic: Evidence and policy implications(Wiley-Blackwell Publishing,, 2021-06-26) Ekici, Ahmet; Watson, F.The COVID-19 pandemic has dramatically impacted the lives of consumers across the globe. What guidance can consumer researchers and policymakers provide consumers to elicit adaptive responses that contribute to their life-satisfaction under these adverse conditions? To this end, we develop and test an adaptive response model and demonstrate its impact on the life-satisfaction of the consumers experiencing the pandemic in Turkey. Our model suggests that amidst COVID-19, seeking emotional help triggers the positivity in people, which in turn increases life-satisfaction. Moreover, turning to religion to deal with the challenges of the pandemic leads to positivity and hope, which in turn positively affect life-satisfaction. Importantly, “escape” behaviors (such as excessive work or time spent in online shows/games) reduce positivity and hope in consumers, thus negatively impacting life-satisfaction. The paper discusses the conceptual and public policy implications of the results and offers recommendations for future research.Item Open Access Trust-driven entrepreneurship for community well-being of refugees and their local hosts(SAGE Publications, 2021) Baktır, Zeynep; Watson, F.This article explores community well-being (CWB) outcomes of institutional trust (and distrust) through entrepreneurship in the context of a refugee-hosting society in Turkey. Existing studies show the positive relationship between institutional trust and quality of life (QOL) as well as entrepreneurship and QOL in subsistence contexts. This research, however, explores the relationship between institutional (dis)trust and entrepreneurship on a path to CWB with a special emphasis on refugee and local interactions in the marketplace. Three different paths to the QOL of refugees and/or locals are presented, but only two lead to CWB outcomes encompassing both refugees and locals. Consideration of refugees and locals as both consumers and business owners provides perspective on the interplay between social trust and institutional trust in a socio-culturally heterogeneous subsistence context. The article also discusses implications for theory and practice.Item Open Access Understanding the dark sides of alternative economies to maximize societal benefit(SAGE Publications, 2020) Watson, F.; Ekici, AhmetAlternative economies can significantly contribute to societal flourishing, but the potential dark sides should also be considered. As shared commitments are the foundation of alternative economies, we draw on related literature to conceptualize various types of dark sides of an alternative economy. While less prominent than the well-being outcomes, we present qualitative data of when the participants of one alternative food network experienced disappointment, burnout, guilt, or division. Comparing with the dark sides gleaned from other studies on alternative economies, we present a framework for evaluating the dark sides in alternative economies. Dark sides can be on a continuum from the micro level to the macro level, as well as more likely to threaten the continuance of alternative economies or societal well-being. We offer recommendations to guard against the vulnerabilities of alternative economies for their continued growth and impact, as well as discuss the implications for research on marketing systems failure.Item Open Access Understanding the leaky pipeline system: behavioural ecological approach to the social marketing of women thriving in STEM careers(Emerald, 2021-11-04) Çelik, Hafize; Watson, F.Purpose – This paper aims to explore the complexity of the “leaky pipeline” of women in science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) in the intriguing contexts where there are a high number of STEM graduates but a low number of women working in these fields. Design/methodology/approach – The authors conducted in-depth interviews with eight STEM “leavers” and eight“persisters” in Turkey to understand the multi-level influences on their career paths. Findings – The behavioural ecological model is applied to enrich the understanding of women’s attrition from STEM. The authors found a complex system of actors, relationships and influences that impact the negotiations of women’s felt misfit/love of their STEM career and changing self-actualisation. Practical implications – The authors highlight that social marketers should consider the complex influences on even the most individualistic-looking decisions to produce systemic change. Originality/value – This paper deepens the use of the behavioural ecological model in the ways that the layers of motivator and demotivator influences interact with women’s internal negotiations of career choice. The paper integrates classic theories (self-actualisation (Maslow, 1943) and two-factor model (Herzberg et al., 1959)) within systems social marketingItem Open Access Well-being in Alternative Economies: the role of shared commitments in the context of a spatially-extended alternative food network(SAGE Publications Inc., 2017) Watson, F.; Ekici, A.Alternative economies are built on shared commitments to improve subjects’ well-being. Traditional commercial markets, premised upon growth driven by separate actors pursuing personal material gain, lead to exploitation of some actors and to negligible well-being gains for the rest. Through resocializing economic relations and expanding the recognition of interdependence among the actors in a marketing system, economic domination and exploitation can be mitigated. We define shared commitments as a choice of a course of action in common with others. We empirically demonstrate the existence of shared commitments through an in-depth study of a spatially extended alternative food network in Turkey. Finally, we offer an inductive model of how shared commitments can be developed between local and non-local actors to bring new economies into being and improve the well-being of consumers and producers, localities, markets, and society.