Browsing by Author "Topaler, B."

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Citation - Scopus: 0
The Status Granted To Organizational Identity Characteristics: an Application of the Best-Worst Method and Regression Analysis
(Springer, 2022) Topaler, B.; Topaler, Ayşe Başak; Çavdaroğlu, N.A.
According to the traditional conceptualization in management literature, organizations gain status through demonstrations of superior performance. Criticizing this narrow focus on “achieved” status, this study identifies the status value ascribed to organizations within socially constructed systems of norms and values. Utilizing concepts offered by institutional research in organization theory, we propose historical legacy, endorsement, and prominence in the field as sources of ascribed status for organizational identity characteristics. The Turkish higher education field constitutes the empirical setting of our research. We conducted interviews with key stakeholders in this field (i.e., students, academicians, managers in industry, and high school counselors) to elicit the organizational characteristics they perceive as relevant for defining university identity. The status value ascribed to these identity characteristics was documented via surveys with separate samples of these four stakeholder groups using a relatively new but widely recognized MCDM method, the best-worst method (BWM). Our findings provide evidence for the view that institutions have a broad influence on social hierarchy systems, yet with some nuances. We discuss theoretical implications for the research on status in markets and practical implications for higher education institutions. © 2022, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.
Citation - WoS: 0
Citation - Scopus: 0
Universities Between Revenue and Status: a Typology of Organizational Responses
(John Wiley and Sons Inc, 2025) Topaler, B.; Topaler, Ayşe Başak; Kayabaşı, A.
Prior research on behavioral responses to performance has provided limited attention to how different types of performance outcomes interact to affect organizational reactions. Focusing on the pursuit of revenue and status goals by private universities, we offer a typology of organizational responses (i.e., reducing ambitions, compensatory strategies, and complementary use of slack to pursue new opportunities) which are shaped by the set of challenges and capabilities that poor and superior performance in these goal dimensions present. When poor performance in both revenue and status leads to different types of liabilities that together result in a low likelihood of recovery, universities respond by reducing ambitions and diversifying into a lower status market segment, which offers a more promising path to survival. In response to a mixed performance outcome in revenue and status, universities employ compensatory strategies where they make use of the achievement in one goal dimension to repair the damage in the other. Finally, universities expand the scope of activities when they achieve superior performance in both goals, and the resulting slack in revenue and status provides complementary capabilities to pursue new opportunities. These findings extend the early Carnegie proposal and indicate that the portfolio of organizational responses to performance gaps may be broader than previously considered. © 2023 European Academy of Management.