Graduate School of Economics and Social Sciences

Permanent URI for this collectionhttps://hdl.handle.net/11693/115676

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Open Access
Dynamics of playful work design in agile teams
(2025-08) Akduman, Selin
In this thesis, the dynamics of playful work design were examined within the context of agile teams. More specifically, leadership-related antecedents (i.e., transformational leadership) of playful work design and its individual-level consequences (i.e., task performance, innovative behavior, and work engagement) were investigated. Adopting a quantitative approach, data were collected from 254 individuals working in agile teams from private sector organizations. The results demonstrated that transformational leadership had a significant positive effect on playful work design, which, in turn, enhanced innovative behavior, task performance, and work engagement. These findings confirm the central role of playful work design as a mechanism translating transformational leadership into enhanced innovative behavior, task performance, and work engagement in agile teams. By emphasizing the mediating role of playful work design, the study contributes to our understanding of how leadership styles can foster employee outcomes in agile work settings.
Open Access
Markanın kullanılmaması sebebiyle sınıf içerisinde kısmi iptali
(2025-08) Çalışkan, Selen
Uzun yıllardır emtiaları birbirinden ayırt etmek amacıyla kullanılan marka hakkına ilişkin olarak ilk yasal düzenlemeler 19. yüzyılda yapılmıştır. Günümüze kadar gelen süreçte ekonomik ve ticari hayattaki önemi iyice artan ve işletmeler açısından büyük bir gayri maddi mal varlığı teşkil eden markanın özellikle tüketiciler açısından kullandıkları mal veya hizmetlerin kaynağını gösterme ve diğer mal veya hizmetlerden ayırt etme gibi oldukça önemli fonksiyonları bulunmaktadır. Markanın bu fonksiyonları ise ancak kullanıldığı takdirde yerine getirilmektedir. Bu sebeple ülkemiz de dahil olmak üzere pek çok hukuk sisteminde markanın kullanılmaması belirli yaptırımlara bağlanmıştır. Ancak, tescilli olduğu mal veya hizmet sınıfının sadece bir kısmında kullanılan markalar yönünden ne şekilde bir karar verilmesi gerektiği hususu tartışmalıdır. Bu çalışmada markanın kullanılma zorunluluğu ve kullanımın esasları ile birlikte Avrupa Birliği ve Türkiye’deki yargı içtihatları incelenerek sınıf içerisinde kısmi kullanıma ilişkin tespit ve değerlendirmeler yapılacaktır. Tezin birinci bölümünde marka hakkına ilişkin genel esaslar incelenecek, ikinci bölümünde markanın kullanımının ölçütleri açıklanacaktır. Son bölümde ise Sınai Mülkiyet Kanunu ile ilk defa hukukumuzda düzenleme alanı bulan idari iptal müessesesi ile yürürlükte olan kullanım zorunluluğu düzenlemelerinin ulaşılmak istenen amaca yönelik olarak ne kadar yeterli olduğu değerlendirilerek kullanılmayan markaların sicilden daha etkili bir şekilde terkin edilmesine yönelik çözüm önerileri sunulacaktır.
Open Access
Legal liability of the members of the board of directors of joint stock companies arising from sustainability reports
(2025-07) Cevahir, Rana
The increasing impact of the climate crisis and the growing prevalence of the concept of sustainability at both national and global levels have made it necessary to impose certain obligations on organisations in order to offer solutions to environmental and social problems. Joint stock companies, which play a key role in the functioning of the economy, are among the organisations most affected by these obligations, as they are expected to contribute to the achievement of corporate sustainability goals. Sustainability reports, which have emerged as a common result of the changing expectations of stakeholders over time and legislative action, are reports through which joint stock companies disclose their impacts on the environment, the economy, and society. As regulated under Turkish law, these reports may lead to the liability of the members of the board of directors of joint stock companies, due to legal relationships established both within the company and with third parties.
Open Access
A critical public archaeology approach to Sagalassos and Ağlasun
(2025-08) Demiryürek, Esma
Since its inception in 1990, the Sagalassos Archaeological Research Project (Burdur, Türkiye) has been closely connected with the modern district of Ağlasun and its people. The Project adopted new considerations since the first decade of the 2000s in line with the changing paradigms within archaeology and emerging questions, such as to whom archaeology serves, who has the decisive power in issues regarding an archaeological site, and whether archaeologists should have responsibilities towards the general public. Thus, several public archaeological research and initiatives were designed, developed, and implemented at Sagalassos and Ağlasun to organize and facilitate the relationship between archaeology and people. In this thesis, the relationship between archaeology and people in Sagalassos and Ağlasun, and these research and initiatives undertaken by the Project will be examined with a critical public archaeology. How economic, political, and social factors impacted the process and aftermath of these initiatives will be scrutinized in light of the thematic analysis of the interviews I conducted with people from Ağlasun in the 2024 excavation season, and with governmental actors in early 2025. Finally, I will discuss how such a follow-up research can be of guidance to future archaeological project design.
Open Access
Contesting conceptions of the muslim world: the cases of Saudi Arabia and Iran during the first gulf war
(2025-07) Küçükmeral, Muhammet Furkan
This thesis explores the construction of the Muslim world as a referent object in the Islamist security discourses of Saudi Arabia and Iran, adopting Bilgin’s analytical framework for its critical perspective on regional security. This framework challenges the traditional statist, military-focused Cold War Security Studies and emphasizes the co-constitutive relationship between (inventing) region and (conceptions and practices of) security. In so doing, Bilgin distinguishes between four regions as “geopolitical inventions of security”. One of these is the ‘Muslim World’, shaped by spatial representations and insecurities of different actors. Over the years, both Saudi Arabia and Iran have appropriated the Muslim world as their security referent. However, it remains unclear whether they share the same approach to the Muslim world or adopt similar approaches to regional security. In this thesis, I adopt the First Gulf War (1991) as a reference point, and apply this analytical framework to examine how these two actors articulate, define, and seek to secure the Muslim world through an analysis of their discourses.
Open Access
Risk appetite and macroeconomic outcomes
(2025-07) Mirasyedi, Hasan
This thesis examines the macroeconomic effects of risk-appetite shocks using a proxy-SVAR approach with high-frequency external instruments. While asset pricing theory assigns a central role to time-varying risk premia, identifying their causal impact on real activity remains challenging due to the endogenous response of financial indicators to macroeconomic news. Using a purified cross asset Risk-Appetite Index from Bauer et al. (2023) as an external instrument for monthly data spanning 1990-2022, we find that a one-standard-deviation in crease in risk aversion—equivalent to a 3.8 index point rise in the VIX—generates significant contractionary effects: industrial production declines by 0.66% with effects persisting for over a year, the consumer price index falls by 0.17% over 15 months, and the federal funds rate drops by 9.9 basis points at month 3, remaining below baseline for 26 months. Durable consumption exhibits a sharp 1.2% decline on impact, highlighting the credit-channel transmission. These effects are nearly double those from traditional Cholesky identification, which understates real impacts and produces implausible long-run price dynamics. Risk-appetite shocks account for 20.5% of industrial production forecast error variance at the three-month horizon under our identification. Robustness checks using the excess bond premium reveal potential contamination from other fi nancial shocks, as evidenced by puzzling long-run price reversals, validating our choice of the cross-asset risk-appetite measure. These findings underscore the importance of proper identification for understanding financial-macro linkages and establish risk-appetite fluctuations as quantitatively important drivers of business cycle dynamics.
Open Access
The history of Byzantine duchies of southern Italy: Naples and Amalfi from late antiquity to the early middle ages
(2025-07) Gülsevinç, Fermude
This dissertation explores the historical trajectories of two Byzantine duchies, Naples and Amalfi, situated along the Tyrrhenian coastline of Byzantine Italy. Chronologically, it focuses on the transitional period between Late Antiquity and the early Middle Ages, from the arrival of the Byzantine forces under the command of Belisarius on the Italian peninsula (6th century) to the establishment of the Catepanate of Italy in 965, which marked a new phase of Byzantine hegemony in the region. Geographically, the study concentrates on the urban centres of Naples and Amalfi and their respective hinterlands, extending northwards to Gaeta, another prominent Byzantine duchy, and southwards to the borders of the Principality of Salerno. By analysing these interconnected territories, this dissertation aims to shed light on the political, social, and economic, as well as religious dynamics and features that defined the Byzantine presence in southern Italy during the transformative period in relation to a wider coastal and insular system, the Byzantine koine.
Open Access
Between image and essence: a sufi literary reading of metaphysical love in time to love
(2025-06) Vural, Fatma Zehra
This thesis explores the metaphysical dimensions of love through a Sufi literary lens, focusing on Metin Erksan’s 1965 film Time to Love (Sevmek Zamanı). It examines the protagonist Halil’s refusal of lived love in favour of an idealised image, situating this narrative choice within a broader Sufi metaphysics of form (surat) and meaning (maʿna), and the transformative journey from ‘ishq majazi to ‘ishq haqiqi. By weaving together Turkish Sufi poetry with close cinematic analysis, the study reveals how Time to Love both echoes and critiques a native tradition where love is not possession but unveiling. Through comparative readings of Turkish literary and folk motifs of image-based longing, this work argues that Halil’s love remains stalled, suspended in stillness, and thus becomes a cautionary tale about modernity’s spiritual inertia. The thesis ultimately proposes a poetics of cinematic ontology: a visual language of silence, repetition, and longing that gestures toward the Real but never fully arrives.
Open Access
Once upon a remix: race, representation, and Disney’s modern fairytales
(2025-07) Güven, Rüya
This thesis explores how Disney’s recent live-action remakes (The Little Mermaid [2023], Aladdin [2019], and Mulan [2020]) engage with themes of race, ethnicity, and cultural identity, particularly in comparison to their animated predecessors from the Disney Renaissance era. As global conversations around diversity and inclusion evolve, Disney has become a focal point for praise and criticism. It stands at the intersection of nostalgia and influence. It is a cherished part of many childhoods and a powerful corporation that helps shape dominant narratives about identity, difference, and belonging. Rather than assuming these adaptations represent either superficial gestures or profound transformations, this study critically examines the representational shifts they introduce. Using qualitative textual analysis, it considers casting decisions, character development, visual aesthetics, and cultural settings to assess how mainstream storytelling constructs inclusion. These films offer particularly compelling case studies due to their international visibility, commercial success, and the public debates they sparked concerning race, authenticity, and performative inclusivity. The findings indicate that while these remakes present a more diverse visual landscape and incorporate language of empowerment, they often leave underlying ideological structures intact. This thesis contributes to broader discussions about how media institutions negotiate race and culture, revealing how inclusion can be offered in form but not always in substance.
Open Access
Real estate prices and corporate borrowing: evidence from Turkey
(2025-07) Çitli, Utku
This thesis examines the relationship between the capital structures of firms in Turkey and their collateral values, particularly through real estate assets. Using a rich dataset, including private SMEs, it investigates whether fluctuations in local real estate prices, which are used for measuring the changes in the value of firms’ real estate holdings, affect firms’ leverage. When firms’ exposure to real estate prices is defined based on initial real estate ownership status, assumed to be identical across owner firms and fixed over time, the findings show that price increases are associated with higher long-term debt among owners compared to non-owners. Also, when ownership status is allowed to vary over time, by still assuming all owners have the same degree of exposure, the findings continue to show positive effects on leverage. These effects also extend to short-term borrowing. However, when firms differ in their exposure based on the amount of real estate assets they own, the relationship between real estate values and leverage reverses. In this case, firms with more real estate assets are more likely to reduce both short and long-term debt when prices rise. These findings suggest that the relationship is highly shaped by the degree of firms’ exposure to the real estate market.
Embargo
Object or cake? Selective processes in the human brain for the recently discovered specialized food area in the ventral visual stream
(2025-07) Doğan, Sümeyra Nur
The human ventral visual cortex shows category-selective organization to recognize and discriminate between ecologically important categories like faces, words, body parts, and places. The food image selective region in the ventral stream has been discovered by recent data-driven studies, which is called the ventral food stream. The overarching goal of this study is to investigate the ventral food stream by employing a novel object-food illusion: a hyper-realistic cake. In hyper-realistic cake videos, the initial object perception shifts to a perception of cake throughout the video. We conducted two different experiments. In Experiment 1, we collected behavioral data from 22 participants to validate the hyper-realistic cake videos. In Experiment 2, we first applied a functional localizer one-back task and employed validated object-food illusion videos with fMRI. Consistent with the recent findings of food selectivity, we identified the foodselective response in the ventral food stream by using a functional localizer task. During the video session, the ventral food stream exhibits a significant increase in activity when the object perception shifts to perception of a cake. Despite showing spatial variability between participants, there is a selective response to visual food cues in the fusiform cortex. This study shows the food-selective activity in the ventral visual cortex in response to illusory visual stimuli in a hypothesis-driven manner. Future studies should conduct functional connectivity analysis to investigate how activity in the ventral food stream is correlated with activity in the gustatory cortices.
Open Access
Mind between the lines: maternal epistemic language as a scaffolding tool for preschoolers’ false belief understanding
(2025-07) Arar, Nihal Yıldız Gökçe
This study aimed to investigate whether mothers’ epistemic talk differed by child characteristics (i.e., false belief understanding competence level, gender) and contextual features (i.e., story familiarity). A wordless picture book was narrated twice by 120 mothers to their preschool-aged children. Children were categorized as competent (FBU-Competent), in transition (FBU-Transition), or not competent (FBU-None) based on their performance on three first-order false belief tasks. Mothers’ epistemic language was coded for type of referent (mother-child or story character), type of utterance function (question or statement), and type of expression (cognitive, certainty, contrastive). Evidencing mothers’ sensitivity to their children’s socio-cognitive abilities, mothers of FBU-transition children were found to initiate more interactive discourse through the use of epistemic questions. As expected, the mothers’ epistemic language was found to be shaped by the interactive effects of child and contextual variables. Specifically, mothers of FBU-competent children used more epistemic statements with story character reference when the story was familiar. This effect was especially observed in contrastive language, regardless of utterance type. The mothers of FBU-None boys used more epistemic statements with mother-child referents compared to the mothers of FBU-transition boys. Finally, mothers of FBU-Transition girls used more certainty expressions with mother-child referents than mothers of FBU-Competent girls. Overall, these results show that the nature of the epistemic language mothers use with their children is affected interactively by various child and contextual characteristics. Future work that focuses on the individual differences in the accuracy of mothers’ epistemic scaffolding is warranted to lay the groundwork for much-needed intervention studies.
Open Access
I-deals, emerging leadership and promotability: a moderated mediation model
(2025-07) Tunakan, Canberk
Companies attempt to identify future leaders within teams. In particular, how leaders emerge informally within these teams and what formal leaders think about these employees remain areas that still require further explanation. In this study, the focus is on how idiosyncratic deals (i-deals) are related to emerging leadership, and if emerging leadership mediates the relationship between i-deals and promotability. Additionally, since the relationship between employees and their managers may influence the emergence of leadership, leader-member exchange (LMX) is included in the model as a moderator. The study was conducted in a centrifugal technologies company operating in Türkiye and involved 145 white-collar employees. The data confirm all of our hypotheses. Both i-deals and emerging leadership predict employees’ promotability, and emerging leadership partially mediates the relationship between i-deals and promotability. Furthermore, high levels of LMX significantly strengthen the relationships between i-deals, emerging leadership, and promotability. The results with respect to i-deals, emergent leadership and promotability are discussed.
Open Access
The fifth player: understanding bystander responses to gender-based exclusion in esports
(2025-07) Ayhan, Serengeti
Children and adolescents draw on multiple factors to inform their bystander judgments and behaviors to gender-based exclusion. The current study aimed to understand how these factors collectively inform bystanders' judgments, attitudes, and the five-step Bystander Intervention Model (BIM). Data was collected from 227 middle school (11-14 years, Mage = 12.56, 131 girls), and 345 high school (15-18 years, Mage = 15.68, 216 girls) students. Participants were randomly assigned to one of eight conditions, varying by the excluder’s intentionality (good vs. bad), bystander peer norms (supporting vs. opposing exclusion), and the victim’s response (active vs. passive). Moral judgments (acceptability, fairness), intergroup judgments (victim inclusion, victims’ behavior, future inclusion of victim and excluder), and attitudes towards exclusion (funniness, seriousness) were evaluated. Bystander intervention behavior was measured using the five-step BIM. Social-cognitive skills (ToM, empathy, humor styles) and gender-related factors (gender stereotype endorsement, growth mindset in esports) were measured. Results indicated that gender shaped intergroup judgments: boys were more likely to judge exclusion acceptable than girls. Intentionality of the excluder shaped moral judgments: exclusion done with good intentionality was more acceptable. Peer norms interacted with intention and victim response: exclusion was seen acceptable only in the bad intentions, passive victim, and supportive norms conditions. Higher ToM, cognitive and affective empathy, affiliative humor, and growth mindset, and lower aggressive humor, endorsement of gender stereotypes predicted steps in the five-step BIM. Overall, findings offer insights for bystander intervention programs by illustrating how naturally interacting factors in dynamic social interactions shape bystanders’ judgments, attitudes, and behaviors.
Open Access
The citizenry as a collective agent: ontology, morality, and boundaries
(2025-07) Sebep, Evrensel
This thesis develops a comprehensive account of the citizenry as a genuine collective agent in representative democracies and explores the moral responsibilities that flow from this status. I argue that the citizenry satisfies core criteria for agency—autonomy, persistence, rationality, and reasoning—through joint commitments to democratic norms, diachronic public deliberation (through informal political discussions, protests, demonstrations, partisanship, social media activism, and participation in opinion polls), and institutional procedures that yield emergent judgments. Building on this account, I develop a collectivist framework of citizen responsibility, which shows how the citizenry bears collective blame for unjust state actions and shares task-responsibilities—such as bearing reparative costs—via an ongoing cycle of electoral appointment, informal guidance, and retrospective evaluation. Finally, I apply this framework to the Responsibility Dilemma in war ethics, proposing non‐lethal, symbolic, structural, and functional harms as appropriate forms of citizen liability in unjust conflicts. By recognising the citizenry as an agent, this thesis offers a richer foundation for understanding political accountability, collective responsibility, and the possibilities of democratic self‑rule. It also offers a novel challenge to the dominant individualistic paradigm in normative political philosophy.
Open Access
Digital transformation in organizations: the role of leadership in driving innovation
(2025-07) Yiğit Koçan, Hüma
This research explores the human side of digital transformation, addressing gaps in existing literature. The study analyzes the impact of digital transformational leadership on individual innovative work behavior, organizational innovation and organizational innovation capability through digital transformation considering top management mindfulness as a moderator. Utilizing a quantitative survey method and data from companies in university technology development zones, the model is tested on 290 employees at the individual level and 35 companies at the organization level. At the individual level, the results showed that there is a positive relationship between digital transformational leadership and digital transformation. Moreover, digital transformation mediates the positive relationship between digital transformational leadership and innovative work behavior. At the organization level, the results revealed the positive relationship between digital transformational leadership and digital transformation, moderated by top management mindfulness. The findings enhance the understanding of the role of leadership and top management in fostering digital transformation in organizations, offering insights for managers to improve innovation outcomes at the individual and organization level in the digital age.
Open Access
Choice architecture in organizations: experimental insights into nudge characteristics and environmental decision-making
(2025-07) Özdemir, Mervegül
In a world that demands sustainable transformation, achieving environmental goals depends not just on how organizations set strategies but on how employees put those goals into practice. This thesis explores how behavioral interventions, particularly nudges, can bridge this gap by supporting environmental decision-making within organizational contexts. Drawing from behavioral science and corporate social responsibility literature, the study focuses on two key features of nudges: transparency and frequency. Through a 2x2 between-subjects vignette experiment involving 228 business undergraduates, the research investigates how these design attributes influence support for sustainable choices in the workplace. In addition to behavioral outcomes, it investigates the psychological mechanisms of perceived threat to freedom and anger as potential mediators. The findings reveal that while nudges significantly increased environmental decision-making, neither transparency nor frequency produced significant effects when individual differences were controlled. Instead, pro-environmental attitudes were the strongest predictor of sustainable choices, suggesting that personal values matter more than how nudges are framed or repeated. This highlights the importance of tailoring behavioral interventions to audience characteristics rather than relying solely on structural adjustments to the nudge itself. By highlighting the emotional and contextual dynamics of behavioral design, this study contributes to both theoretical and practical understanding of how organizations can foster sustainable behavior ethically and effectively.
Open Access
Unveiling the dynamics of knowledge sabotage in knowledge-intensive contexts
(2025-06) Çavuşoğlu, Begüm
Knowledge sharing is pivotal for team performance and organizational success, especially in knowledge-intensive contexts. It fosters innovation and problem solving and enhances overall performance. Despite its critical importance, there are cases when individuals do not choose to share their knowledge and experiences, which is called knowledge sabotage. Knowledge sabotage is deliberately providing incorrect knowledge or concealing highly critical knowledge while being aware that this knowledge is needed and must be productively applied in the workplace. Understanding the predictors, dynamics, and consequences of knowledge sabotage is crucial for organizations to ensure the preservation and optimal use of their critical knowledge, thus safeguarding their operational resilience and efficiency. This study examines the phenomenon of knowledge sabotage, its types, underlying motivations, barriers, and consequences within organizations. Thirty in-depth interviews were conducted with participants working in knowledge-intensive contexts. The results revealed three forms of knowledge sabotage, namely providing distorted information, withholding requested information, and passive neglect. The findings also pointed to the negative effects of knowledge sabotage on organizational performance such as loss of time and efficiency, damage to company reputation, loss of trust, loss of corporate knowledge, and failure to achieve desired success and quality. The results emphasized the need for fostering trust and collaboration to mitigate knowledge sabotage within organizations. The findings are discussed with reference to the knowledge management literature.
Open Access
Transformation of a sarraf family in the nineteenth-century Ottoman Empire: The Zambaoğulları
(2025-06) Altın, Sefa Mustafa
This thesis analyzes the entrepreneurial activities of Yorgo Zambaoğlu, a sarraf in the second half of the nineteenth century. As an emerging local sarraf in the rural area, Yorgo gained considerable wealth and a solid reputation through his role as a guarantor in the iltizam contracts. When he relocated his economic operations to Istanbul, he faced a new challenge. The emergence of modern financial institutions led to the loss of the monopolistic position of the sarrafs in internal borrowing. Thanks to his new strategies and investment areas, Yorgo went beyond the classical character of the profession and found a new clientele in the shrinking credit markets. This thesis seeks to highlight how the sarraf profession transformed by analyzing the case of Zambaoğlu Yorgo. In this context, this study aims to shed light on the evolution of Zambaoğlu Yorgo's investments through his clientele. By analyzing the identities and titles of Yorgo's debt cases in the Ottoman archives, this study targets to reveal the prevailing pattern of his investments and client portfolio. In addition, by looking at the material and social heritage of the family, it will also be presented how an entrepreneur made capital transfer possible.
Open Access
Energy import concentration, diversification, and welfare: evidence from Türkiye
(2025-07) Tuğsuz, Mehmet
This thesis studies how supplier concentration heightens energy-supply risk and evaluates diversification as a policy response. Updated Herfindahl–Hirschman Index calculations reveal that Türkiye’s oil and natural-gas imports are far more concentrated than international benchmarks. A suite of stylised models is developed to determine optimal import shares under alternative shock scenarios. Across specifications, diversification consistently emerges as the welfare-maximising strategy. Historical case studies from the 1970s oil embargoes to the 2022 European gas crisis verify the model’s predictions, showing that countries delaying diversification suffered deeper and more prolonged output losses. An appendix offers a preliminary estimate of a hypothetical 2022 cut-off in Russian energy. The results underscore diversification as a first-order lever for reducing macroeconomic exposure to supply shocks and provide a tractable framework for future work.