In this paper, we want to focus on the interactions of shareholder theory, stakeholder theory, institutional theory and agency theory in terms of corporate social responsibility. We will specifically study this issue in the context of commercial banks in the financial sector. Financial firms appear to be subject to strong technical and institutional pressures. They are also more opaque and subject to heavier regulation than their non‐financial counterparts. It appears that the application of agency‐based assumptions to the financial sector is inadequate in explaining corporate governance and related social responsibility practices. In this context, the structure of asymmetric information seems to be more complex and multi‐dimensional. It takes place first between the depositors, the bank and the regulatory authorities; second, between the shareholders, the bank and the regulatory authorities; last, between the borrowers, the managers and the regulatory authorities. These parties also constitute the firms’ stakeholders. In this respect, the state appears to be a major stakeholder and it is in a position to affect all other bank/stakeholder relations through its regulations and participation in the financial sector. These are the factors that intensify institutional pressures in this sector. The institutional embeddedness inherent in a special context is likely to affect stakeholder position and attitudes. Therefore, this paper aims to investigate the conflicting nature of being a stakeholder under institutional pressures and it articulates the factors that determine the behavior of the state as a stakeholder in shaping corporate social responsibility practices of firms.

Finans alanındaki olgulara, geleneksel finans teorilerinin aksine, bireylerin davranış biçimlerine dayalı açıklamalar getiren davranışsal finans teorilerinin bir bölümü, bu çalışmada yapılan araştırma ile test edilmeye çalışılmıştır. Araştırmanın amacı, yatırım kararlarında alman risk düzeyinin belirlenmesidir. Araştırma, İstanbul ilinde, tekstil sektöründe faaliyet gösteren KOBİ’lerin karar alma kademesindeki kişilerle yüzyiize görüşmeler yapılarak gerçekleştirilmiştir. Karar alimim gerektiren standart yatırım senaryoları ile karşılaşan yatırımcıların yanıtları, çalışmanın hipotezlerini test etmekte kullanılmıştır. Çalışmanın hipotezleri, beklenti teorisinin ve mental muhasebe kuramının varsayımlarına dayandırılmıştır. Araştırmada test edilmek istenen hipotezler genel hatlarıyla şöyle özetlenebilir: Yatırımcılar, kazanç durumunda riskten kaçınan, kayıp durumunda ise riski sever bir tutum içinde bulunurlar ve gelir ve kar, “kazanç” kavramıyla aynı mental hesapta, harcama ve maliyet ise “kayıp” kavramıyla aynı mental hesapta tutulur. Toplam beş adet senaryo grubu hazırlanmıştır ve bu senaryo gruplarının içinde toplam oniki adet senaryo bulunmaktadır. Oniki senaryonun sekizinin bulguları beklenen sonuçları destekler niteliktedir.

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Purpose -The purpose of this paper is to examine the foreign ownership patterns in local stocks in an emerging capital market, i.e. the Istanbul stock exchange (ISE), to derive insights into the linkage between foreign investors' equity-level preferences and the information provided by the corresponding firm's financial statements. Design/methodology/approach -The data consists of foreign ownership share in non-financial stocks over the period 2004-2008 in the ISE. Given the time-series cross-sectional span of our data set, we run our regression analyses of the foreign ownership of Turkish stocks on various firm-specific financial characteristics. Findings -Our analyses suggest that foreign investors are more likely to hold shares in firms with larger market capitalization and those with low leverage and book-to-market ratios. Overall, the results provide suggestive evidence on the asymmetric information hypothesis between local and non-local investors and, accordingly, useful insights into the equity home bias puzzle. Practical implications -From a practical viewpoint, understanding the impact of firm-level characteristics on foreign investors' preferences may provide valuable insights about the reasons and timing of foreign inflows or outflows of capital, to people at managerial positions. Originality/value -The examination of the foreign ownership at a security level is expected to contribute into the ongoing debate on the determinants of cross-border portfolio holdings, in general, and the reasons of the persistent home bias worldwide, in particular.

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