Organizational Citizenship Behavior and Counterproductive Work Behavior: Cross-cultural comparisons between Turkey and the Netherlands

This research project explores cultural determinants that facilitate positive employee behavior. In the literature, this behavior is identified as organizational citizenship behavior (OCB). The dissertation also focuses on factors related to counterproductive work behavior (CWB). CWB is defined as behavior that explicitly runs counter to the goal of the organization (e.g., breaking organizational rules). The studies were carried out in Turkey and the Netherlands. These two countries are different in several cultural aspects, among which are the values of individualism and collectivism and social beliefs. These differences may have relevance for OCB and CWB. Most organizational behavior theories have been developed and empirically tested among western samples. However, western-based organizational theories may be insufficient to explain many organizational phenomena in non-western cultures. This dissertation therefore aims to highlight the importance of cultural factors that may influence organizational processes

Values, identities and social constructions of the European Union among Turkish university youth

The present study aimed to investigate Turkish university youth’s constructions concerning the European Union (EU) and their reactions to the EU’s December 2002 Copenhagen summit decision to delay discussion of Turkey’s entry to the EU. Specifically it aimed to show that socio-political identities among Turkish youth were related to historical developments in Turkey’s past and that these identities had associations with values of ethnocentricism, patriotism, and secularism. Furthermore it was predicted that constructions of the EU reactions to the decision would be related. Students (400) from five universities at the three largest cities of Turkey participated in the study. Three identities, Nationalist-Islam, Kemalist, and Western; three constructions of the EU, Europe as Different, Impermeable Boundaries, and Different but Advantageous, and two perceived causes for the decision, Differences-Conflict and Justification emerged from factor analyses. Second order factor analysis revealed that Nationalist-Islam identity and authoritarian, ethnocentric and antisecular values formed a cluster whereas Kemalist and Western identities were grouped with low levels of patriotism. Positive and negative constructions of the EU and reactions to the Copenhagen decision were also grouped under two separate factors. Further analyses revealed that an index of urbanization composed of parental education and rural-urban origin predicted the Authoritarian-Nationalistic cluster and that this value-identity cluster predicted positive and negative views of the EU