Ismail Tokmak

ABSTRACTObjectives:National interpersonal distance preference is considered a cultural characteristic. Interpersonal distance is critical for the spread dynamics of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). COVID-19’s spread trend shows various characteristics in different countries. We believe that 1 of the factors influencing this variation could be national interpersonal distance preference.Methods:We used regression analysis based on data of national interpersonal distance preferences (social, personal, and intimate) presented by Sorokowska et al. and COVID-19 rate of spread data for 40 different countries that were calculated using Our World in Data’s data.Results:National interpersonal distance preferences, with its 3 dimensions, significantly influence the rate of spread of COVID-19 in countries.Conclusion:Understanding the relation between national interpersonal distance preference and spread of COVID-19 might be very useful information in decision-making processes of individuals...

It is known in the business world that employees' display of emotional labor in their relations with customers contributes to the success of the organization. Therefore, the aim of this study is to find out how the emotional dilemmas that employees experience affect their perceptions on job satisfaction and turnover intention and whether leader-member exchange has a moderating role on these relationships. In this respect, we performed a survey on the 371 employees of a company in Turkey. We used the scale developed by Diefendorff et al. (2005) to test emotional labor; the scale developed by Scandura and Graen (1984) to test leader-member exchange; the scale developed by Chen et al. (2009) to test job satisfaction and the scale developed by Scott et al. (1999) to test turnover intention. The all scales were measured valid and reliable for this sample group. In the hierarchical regression analyses, done to test the hypotheses, all variables were included in the model. According to the findings, emotional labor has a significant and positive direct effect on turnover intention and it has a significant and negative direct effect on job satisfaction. All these results taken into consideration, it was confirmed that when emotional labor increases, turnover intention also increases, and job satisfaction decreases. Furthermore, the moderating role of leader-member exchange between the relationship of emotional labor and turnover intention wasn't approved; however, its moderating role between the relationship of emotional labor and job satisfaction was approved. To sum up, it is estimated that performing emotional labor is inevitable for organizational success and it is essential to develop new methods in order to prevent the negativities resulting from emotional dilemmas.

Bu çalışmanın amacı, lider-üye etkileşiminin çalışanların örgütsel adalet algıları ile performansları üzerindeki etkilerini belirlemek ve örgütsel adaletin, lider-üye etkileşimi ile işgören performansı arasındaki ilişkide aracılık rolünün bulunup bulunmadığını araştırmaktır. Bu amaçla Çorum’da bulunan orta öğretim seviyesindeki 20 farklı okulda görevli 471 öğretmenin katılımı ile bir çalışma yapılmıştır. Araştırma sonucunda; lider üye etkileşiminin, örgütsel adaleti ve işgören performansını, örgütsel adaletin de işgören performansını pozitif yönde ve anlamlı olarak etkilediği görülmüş, ayrıca örgütsel adaletin lider üye etkileşimi ile işgören performansı ilişkisinde tam aracılık etkisinin bulunduğu belirlenmiştir.

1. Introduction:
As a result of the competitive business environment in the service sector, customer satisfaction has attained critical importance for the corporations, a phenomenon which has resulted in the raise of the standards as well as in the customer expectations, due to the presence of many corporations providing similar services. As a result of this, corporations demand their employees who are in direct interaction with the customers; to establish empathy with them, to assume pre-defined roles and even though they do not sincerely believe or do feel in a different manner, and to behave in the way they are expected (Hochschild 1983; Ashforth & Humphrey, 1993; Güngör, 2009). In short, the corporations demand their employees to put forward their emotional labors, in addition to their physical and intellectual efforts both for their personal and for the corporations’ performances.
Emotional labor, as an emotion management process may cause some positive or negative effects on the employees, depending on the relation between the demonstrated emotions and authentically felt ones (Dursun, Bayram ve Aykaç, 2011). These effects that may be caused by the concept of emotional labor have become subject to intense studies, since the first recognition of its concept by Hochschild (1983). Concerning the relevant studies Turkey, since the second half of the 2000s, the relations of the emotional labor with some different variations such as; burnout (Köse, Oral ve Türesin, 2011), intention to quit (Beğenirbaş & Çalışkan, 2014), organizational citizenship behavior (Beğenirbaş & Meydan, 2012, job satisfaction (Keser, 2006; Dursun, Bayram ve Aykaç, 2011), job involvement (Gülova, Palamutçuoğlu ve Palamutçuoğlu, 2013), job performance (Beğenirbaş & Çalışkan, 2014), were examined to some degree.
Work alienation which may be regarded as one of the consequences of emotional labor, is described by Elma (2003) as; “insignificance of the work by the employee; dissatisfaction from the organizational relations; feeling of loneliness, insufficiency and impotency; despair for the future and the perception of himself/herself as an ordinary figure in the play”.
There are limited number of studies empirically dealing with the relation between emotional labor and work alienation. Kaya & Serçeoğlu (2013) have determined as the result of their studies towards the service sector employees, that there is a meaningful and parallel relationship between emotional labor and work alienation.
In the employment conditions, positive psychology gains importance in the psychological conditions in which there are employees, expected to manage their emotions and especially as there are some of them bearing inconsistencies between their emotions to be demonstrated and the ones genuinely felt. Positive physicology therein, implies a holistic concept dealing with the positive emotions and positive personality specifications of people and as well as the institutions creating them (Seligman et al.,2005).
Positive organizational behavior, having developed as a reflection of the positive psychology into the organizational life, can be described as a positively biased application and study of the psychological capacities and the human resource actors, which can be measured, developed and managed in order to develop efficient performances (Luthans, 2002). The psychological capital, which has gained prominence in the positive organizational behavior, while it described as the combination of the positive specifications that a person inherits, to be different from the personality specifications, is emphasized as to be open for development(Erkuş ve Afacan Fındıklı, 2013).
The aim of this study is to determine whether there is a moderating effect of the psychological capital level inherited by the employees in the relation between the emotional capital and the work alienation.
Hypothesis:
H1: There is a positive way relation between the emotional labor and the work alienation.
H2: Psychological capital has moderating effect on the relation between the emotional labor and the work alienation.
2. Method :
2.1. Participants:
Population is comprised of the employees of a company operating in the logistics sector and having countrywide network of departments. In the research context a web-based questionnaire form was sent to the employees via corporal intranet and the results gathered from 459 participants participated in the research. 87 % of the participants are males, 66,4 % are married, 84,5 % are non-manager employees, 52,3 % are high school and above level graduate, 74,7 % are below or equal to 40 years of age, 53,6 % are in working life with 1-10 years of experience, 51,2 % are in working life with 5 years of less experience in the company.
2.2. Scales:
2.2.1. Emotional Labor Scale: The scale having been developed by Diefendorff, Croyle & Grosserand (2005) and adapted to Turkish by Basım & Beğenirbaş (2012) was used to measure the labor perceptions of the participants. Scale is comprised of totally three dimensions and 13 statements as; “surface acting (6 statements)”, “deep acting (4 statements)” “natural emotions (3 statements)” Participants identified their level of participation to the statements defined in the scale in Quintet Likert Scale (1=Never, 5= Always).
2.2.2. Psychological Capital Scale: The scale (PCQ-24) having been developed by Luthans et al. (2007)  and adapted to Turkish in multiple studies by (Çetin & Basım, 2012; Erkuş & Afacan Fındıklı, 2013; Özer, Topaloğlu & Özmen, 2013) was used to measure the psychological capital level of the participants. Scale is comprised of totally 24 statements under 4 different dimensions as; optimism (6 statements), psychological resilience (6 statements), hope (6 statements) and self efficacy (6 statements) Participants identified their level of participation to the statements defined in the scale in Sextet Likert Scale (1= Absolutely Agree, 6= Absolutely not agree).
2.2.3. Work Alienation Scale: In the measurement of the alienation to the work the scale having been developed by Hirschfeld & Field (2000) and adapted to Turkish in by Özbek (2011) was used. Scale is comprised of totally 10 statements. The measurements were made by identified their level of participation to the statements defined in the scale in Quintet Likert Scale. (1= Absolutely Agree, 5= Absolutely not agree). It is reiterated that the same scale has been used in the study by Özbek (2011) and some other later studies where in the study of Kanten & Ülker (2014) the scale had a single factor structure.
It is concluded in the studies that the scales are valid and reliable in the sample group.
3. Findings
In the study, correlation analysis was applied in order to understand the existence and the direction of any potential relation among the variants and the hierarchical regression analysis was applied to test the hypothesis. The moderating effect was also tested by the regression curve as well. It is derived as the result of the analysis that;
 There is no meaningful relation between emotional labor and psychological capital,
 There is a meaningful and positive direction relation between emotional labor and work alienation,
 There is a meaningful and negative direction relation between psychological capital and work alienation,
 There is a moderating effect of the psychological capital in the relation between emotional labor and work alienation.
4. Discussion:
In the lights of the findings attained in the study, it may be suggested that the inclination of work alienation increases in the employees working in the labor intensive areas. However the high level of employees’ psychological capital decreases this inclination. Considering that the psychological capital can be developed by time, it is assessed that the programs to increase the psychological capital of the employees are to be developed in order to decrease the level of work alienation of the employees, specifically if an intensive level of emotional labor is expected.
The most prominent limitation of this study is that it was conducted in only one corporation. Therefore it is suggested that this study should be repeated in wider sample groups, in different geographical locations and in different sectors in order that the results of the study are to be generalized.
This study is the second of its type among the accessible ones in Turkey following the study by Kaya & Serçeoğlu (2013) dealing with the relations among the emotional labor and work alienation variants. When conceptually assessed, it is empirically put forward by these two studies that, work alienation is a consequence of emotional labor. In this study, in addition to the study by Kaya & Serçeoğlu (2013) it is further understood that the employees’ level of psychological capital has a moderating effect in the relation between these two variants. These results of the study are deemed useful for both the corporate managers and for the literature as well.

"Information Technologies (IT) competency of enterprise is considered one of the important aspects for creating competitive advantage. Although some micro level scales measuring IT competency of firms are exist in the literature, in order to fulfill the requirement of a Turkish Scale measuring firm level IT capability by establishing its reliability and validity on Turkish enterprises can provide a significant contribution. This scale development study may be useful for scholar exploring the relationships of IT competency with other variables. In this study, IT competency which is developed by Tippins ve Sohi (2003) is held through three scales named; IT Knowledge, IT Objects and the success of IT operations. At the end of the analysis Turkish version of the IT competency scale is found to be reliable and valid considering two different samples. The first sample comprises the bank officials and managers in Çorum. And second one is consist of the managers of manufacturing industry firms in Ankara.

Son yıllarda işletmelerde rekabet avantajı yaratan en önemli hususlardan birisi Bilgi Teknolojileri (BT) yetkinliği olarak görülmektedir. Mikro seviyede firma bazında BT yetkinliğini ölçmeye yönelik yazında bir takım çalışmalar bulunsa da ülkemizde konu üzerinde çalışacak araştırmacıların kullanabileceği, geçerliği ve güvenilirliği Türk firmaları üzerinde denemiş bir ölçeğin derlenerek gerekli testlerin yapılmasının yerli yazında önemli bir açığı kapatacağı ve BT yetkinliği ile diğer bazı değişkenler arasındaki ilişkileri incelemek için araştırmacılara fayda sağlayacağı düşünülmektedir. Bu çalışmada Tippins ve Sohi (2003) tarafından geliştirilen BT Bilgisi, BT Nesneleri ve BT Operasyonları olmak üzere üç boyuttan oluşan ölçek ele alınmıştır. Analizlerin sonucunda BT yetkinliği ölçeğinin Çorum’da bulunan bankalarda çalışan meslek memurları ve yöneticileri ile Ankara’daki imalat sanayi yöneticilerinden oluşan iki farklı örneklem için geçerli ve güvenilir olduğu belirlenmiştir.
"

Human Resources Management (HRM) Practices and Information and Communication Technology (ICT) capability of enterprise are considered one of the most important factors contributing competitive advantage. This study aims to reveal not only the impact of HRM practices and ICT capability on business performance (BP) but also the influence of ICT capability on the association between HRM practices and business performance. The findings based on analyses, which are conducted to the data collected from the firms located in OSTİM Organized Industrial Area in Ankara, demonstrate that HRM practices and ICT capability have positive impact on business performance while ICT capability has a mediating effect on the association between HRM practices and business performance.

Nowadays human factors and organizational communication as in all businesses are of the utmost importance in the labour-intensive tourism sector. The main subject of this study is to find out whether or not tourism students have tendency to sociotropic or autonomic personality traits their communication skills whether these personality traits and communication skills differ according to gender age and levels of education and whether there are negative or positive effects of these personality traits on communication skills. Therefore Tourism and Hotel Management students who attend both two-year and four-year programs/departments of Başkent University in Ankara have been conducted surveys. Analyses have been done by using Sociotropic-Autonomic Personality Traits Scale and Communication Skills Evaluation Scale. Regression analysis has been used to find out the effects of the sub-dimensions factors of sociotropic-autonomic personality traits onto the communication skills. According to the results of the analysis “separation anxiety and anxiety of pleasing others” which can be defined as sub-dimensions of sociotropic personality traits and “personal success” defined as a sub-dimension of autonomic personality traits effect communication skills in the positive direction with significance.

The aim of this study is to investigate, the effect of emotional intelligence on the organizational citizenship behaviour and the mediating effect of job satisfaction on this relationship. For this purpose, we conduct this study with participation of 243 employees who are working in the firms where they are located
in the Ankara-Sincan 1st Organized Industrial Region. The results of the research indicate that emotional intelligence affects both organizational citizenship behavior and job satisfaction positively, but job satisfaction doesn’t have medating effect on the relationship between emotional intelligence and organizational citizenship behavior

"Because of the consideration that staff personality characteristics effect their motivation, staff of four and five star hotels, located within the city borders of Ankara, have been given priority while determining their sociotropic-autonomic personality traits. Subsequently, motivations of the said staff have been measured in accordance with both inner and external motivation tools in order to determine whether there is an effect of sociotropical-autonomic personality traits on inner and external motivation, or
not. Findings demonstrate that personal success, which can be identified as the subordinate dimension of the autonomic personality traits, effects both inner and external motivation directly and in the positive direction."

In present study we investigate the association between human resources management practices (HRMP) and organizational performance (OP) with the mediation effect of employees’ perceived organizational support (POS). We conduct a field survey to SMEs operating in four Central Black Sea cities namely Samsun, Çorum, Amasya, and Tokat. Then we employ multivariate statistical analyses in order to establish validity and consistency of scales and causality among variables. Our findings indicate that selection and compensation system, which are factors of HRMP, have significant and positive effect on OP, and HRMP and POS have aggregate effect on OP, but we do not trace the mediating role of POS on the association between HRMP and OP.

This study has been done in a sample university to find out the effects of transformational leadership on organizational identification and perceived corporate reputation and to see whether organizational identification plays a part in this effect. To see the effects and to find out whether organizational identification plays a part in this effect, a survey was carried out on 214 academic and administrative staff of a private university. The results of the survey were analyzed through regression analysis. According to these results, there is a positive and significant relationship between transformational leadership,
organizational identification and corporate reputation. Apart from this, it has been understood that organizational identification plays an important part on the relationship between transformational leadership and perceived corporate reputation.

The aim of this study is to examine the relations of ethical leadership among the organizational trust, affective commitment and job satisfaction. For this aim, firstly, the ethical leadership, secondly organizational trust, thirdly affective commitment and, finally, the job satisfaction are explained. In the application
part, a questionnaire including the measures of the ethical leadership, organizational trust, affective commitment and job satisfaction is distributed to employees of one of the leading private universities in Turkey and the data were assessed by statistical analysis methods. Finally, it is found that there is a positive relationship among ethical leadership, organizational trust, affective commitment and the job satisfaction

Social concepts such as equity, fairness and organizational justice play an important role in employees’ evaluation of their own workplace environment. The employees who have positive feelings about these concepts are committed more to their organization, which leads to job satisfaction and an increase in the level of organizational success. This study aims to indicate the effect of employees’ organizational justice (OJ) perceptions on their organizational commitment (OC). A sample university with its administrative and academic staff is determined as the study field. In the study, it is indicated that, on the basis of OJ’s lower dimensions, it affects OC positively and significantly

The aim of this study is to examine the effects of locus of control on organizational citizenship behaviors and the mediating effect of the perceived organizational support. For this aim, firstly, the locus of control, then organizational citizenship behaviors and, finally, the mediating effect of the perceived organizational support are explained. In the application part, a questionnaire including the measures of the locus of control, organizational
support and organizational citizenship behaviors is distributed to employees of one of the leading private universities in Turkey and the data were assessed by statistical analysis methods. Finally, it is found that there is a positive relationship among locus of control, organizational citizenship behaviors and the mediating
effect of the perceived organizational support.

Internet has transformed the earth into a small village. As one of the opportunities it offers, e-commerce has made paradigm shift in the traditional commerce concept which is constrained
by time and location limits. Many entrepreneurs in the world have started to apply e-commerce models to fulfill this opportunity and gain competitive advantage. Turkish entrepreneurs have
followed this trend closely. In recent years we have seen that e-commerce transactions volume is increasing very fast in Turkey. We think that there are some nationwide variables, such as GDP
per Capita, inflation rate, number of Internet users, global economical crises and existence of legal arrangements supporting e-commerce, effecting this development in e-commerce transactions volume. In this study we try to investigate the effects of these factors, which are defined as independent variables, on e-commerce using a multiple linear regression model and interpret the findings.

Studies on organizational identification, organizational cynicism and empowerment are seen to be increasing. All these three variables are important for the organizations to have their human resources for longer period of time. In this context, this study is designed to identify both the relationship of aforementioned three variables and possible mediating effect of organizational identification in the relationship of empowerment and organizational sinism. The hypotheses were tested with the data
gathered from 69 academicians working at the management and foreign language departments of a public university in Ankara. Results showed that empowerment had a positive and significant effect on organizational identification, empowerment had a negative and significant effect on organizational cynicism, and organizational identification had a negative and significant effect on organizational cynicism.

One of the most important strategies for the establishment in the competitive atmosphere is the act of being innovative. The act of being innovative has been examined in the academic studies
conducted ranging from scale of international associations (EU, NAFTA, etc.) to the company scale through different angles.
In this study, first, we have analyzed with the relevant literature the concept of innovation and organizational factors; size, age and capital structure (domestic / foreign) which effects innovation
capability of enterprises. Later we have examined these three organizational factors whether make a difference on innovation capability of enterprises or not with a survey which had been made in electronic industry. We have found similiar results like in the relevant litrature.

Bu çalışmanın amacı çalışanların algıladıkları örgütsel adaletin, örgütsel özdeşleşme ve iş tatmini üzerindeki etkilerini incelemek ve örgütsel özdeşleşmenin örgütsel adalet ile iş tatmini arasındaki ilişkide aracılık etkisinin bulunup bulunmadığını belirlemektir. Bu amaçla İzmir Atatürk Organize Sanayi Bölgesinde faaliyet gösteren işletmelerde çalışan toplam 191 işgörenin katılımı ile bir çalışma yapılmıştır. Araştırma sonucunda örgütsel adaletin örgütsel özdeşleşme ve iş tatminini pozitif yönde etkilediği, örgütsel özdeşleşmenin çalışanların adalet algılamalarının iş tatminlerine etkisinde aracılık etkisinin bulunduğu belirlenmiştir.

The importance of human factors is increasing in quality improvement. Companies are directed to Total Quality Management to establish a standard structure. In this research, human resources researched in various aspects. A questionnaire has been applied in various sectors in Ankara-Turkey as a dimension of individual performance measurement as the size of the self assessment. Information from multi—sector employees has been obtained with the Snowball Method. Selfassessment
of the data obtained as a result of the analysis is aimed to
reveal the size of the 360 (DFM) functionality.

Küreselleşme sürecine paralel olarak değişen rekabet koşullarında işletmelerin sürdürülebilir rekabet avantajı elde etmesinde ve yüksek performans göstermesinde yenilikçilik ile stratejik insan kaynakları yönetimi ön plana çıkan hususlar arasında gösterilebilir. Bu çalışmada stratejik insan kaynakları yönetiminin işletme performansına etkileri incelenirken, yenilikçiliğin aracılık rolü belirlenmeye çalışılmıştır. Savunma sanayi işletmeleri üzerinde yapılan araştırma sonuçlarına göre stratejik insan kaynakları yönetiminin işletme performansını hem doğrudan hem de yenilikçiliğin kısmi aracılık etkisiyle etkilediği belirlenmiştir

Günümüz rekabet koşullarında işletmelere rekabet avantajı sağlayan en önemli faktörlerden birisi de yenilikçiliktir. İşletme performansı ve sermaye yapısı da işletmelerin yenilikçilik yeteneği ile ilgili yapılan çalışmalarda öne çıkan değişkenler arasında görülmektedir. Bu çalışmada işletme performansının işletmelerin yenilikçilik düzeylerine etkileri incelenirken, sermaye yapısının aracılık rolü belirlenmeye çalışılmıştır. Savunma sanayi işletmeleri üzerinde yapılan araştırma sonuçlarına göre işletme performansının işletmelerin yenilikçilik düzeyini hem doğrudan hem de sermaye yapısının kısmi aracılık etkisiyle etkilediği belirlenmiştir.

"The key element for the establishments in the ascending  competition in parallel to the globalization process is the human resources they are in possession of. When the contributions
of the employees to the establishment in this circumstance is at sight, the human resources management starts to leave the narrow functional area and to take more strategic roles in the
establishment. In this context, since 1990s, the strategic human resources and its contributions to the establishment have been analysed in various researches through various angles.

One of the most important strategies for the establishment in the competitive atmosphere is the act of being innovative. The act of being innovative has been examined in the academic studies
conducted ranging from scale of international associations (EU, NAFTA, etc.) to the company scale through different angles such as product and process innovation, radical and enhancing
innovation, organizational innovation, technological innovation.
The research problem with this study can be expressed as the analysis conducted by the strategic human resources management whether the establishment have the capacity of being innovative in the direction of electronic industry companies.
It is possible to express the objectives of the study as; measuring the capacity of being innovative, determining the factors influencing the capacity of being innovative, determining
the approaches in the applications of the human resources management, examining the corelation between the strategic human resources and the capacity of being innovative.
A survey form was created to determine the capacity of the establishments of being innovative and the degree of the perception of the strategic views of the establishments as well as the literature scan in the study. It has been requested that the specialists and directors employed in the responsible units of the R & D or human resources management or middle and senior
directors to fill out the survey forms as it has been thought that they are able to perform evaluations in the aspects of applications and policies regarding human resources and the act of being innovative. The results of the 92 electronic industry companies out of 141, whose survey forms were submitted in the scope of the study, are included in the study.

Due to the analysis of the data obtained in the scope of the study,
a) The organizational culture, the perspective of the senior management, the structure of the organization, the human resources policies and the performance of the establishment are
to influence the capacity of the act of being innovative,

b) The capacity of being innovative of the establishment increase for the establishments in where the human resources management is being conducted in a more strategic manner,

c) It has been seen that the capacity of the act of being innovative for the establishments and their perspectives of the strategic human resources management demonstrate differences
according to the size, age, capital structure of the establishment, on the other hand, do not demonstrate differences according to the sub sector in where the establishments are located.

In conclusion, it has been assessed that significant findings have been obtained for the researches who would like to conduct researches with respect to both the establishments and the
subject in future."