A phenomenological study on stakeholders' perceptions towards institutionalization in translation sector

Professions that play a significant role in modern societies emerge as occupations mature over time and complete their professionalization processes. Professions that claim professionalism must overcome various challenges. The profession of translation can also complete its professionalization process by addressing its various challenges through legal gains. However, to properly shape the perception of the profession in society and address professionalization issues, it may be necessary to approach the process from different perspectives. In this regard, the close relationship between the concepts of 'institutionalization' and 'professionalization' has been identified, and the issues and solutions regarding the perception of the translation profession have been evaluated through the theories and concepts required by an institutional perspective. The concept of institutionalization, which forms the theoretical framework of this study, along with institutional theory and the concepts it encompasses, is introduced in the first chapter. Due to the lack of empirical studies focusing on the concept of institutionalization in the context of the translation as a profession, the literature review in the second chapter has focused on studies that address the role of translators and professionalization. Therefore, this thesis aims to approach the recent focus on professionalization issues in the translation profession from an institutional perspective, identifying the challenges through the institutional perceptions of sectoral stakeholders and providing solutions. In this study, which was designed using a phenomenological research design, interviews were conducted to measure the perceptions of sectoral stakeholders regarding institutionalization in a professional sense. The stakeholder groups consist of participants with academic and sectoral studies on professionalization, including translators, translation business owners, and scholars in the field of translation studies. The collected data were analyzed using the MAXQDA software and examined under the "Findings and Discussion" section. Themes were identified through an inductive approach based on the patterns derived from the findings, and each theme was interpreted in the context of professionalization and institutionalization. The results indicate that the professional issues in translation are also issues of institutionalization. Based on the conclusions drawn from stakeholder perspectives, normative recommendations have been made to address the organizational issues related to the translation profession. At the end of the recommendations section, a draft model has been proposed for institutionalization within the framework of Actor-Network Theory, including digitalization. Keywords: Translation Profession, Institutionalization, Institutional Theory, Actor-Network Theory, Digitalization