An empirical analysis of the problems and solutions related to the development agencies: The case of Turkey

Even though the regional imbalances being a major problem since the foundation of the Republic have continuously raised different policies at both national and regional levels in terms of ensuring social and economic development, the desired success has not been achieved in eliminating the interregional imbalance. With the aim to reduce the imbalances in the regions as well as within the regions of Turkey simultaneously with the impact of European Union membership process, Development Agencies have been established in the 2000s. Since 2009, 26 Development Agencies are operating in Turkey. In this thesis, it was aimed to reveal the problems experienced by development agencies internally and with stakeholders in the region, their contributions to the region; solutions and road map they should be following to get more effective results in the region based on the survey conducted on the staff of 26 development agencies. Data were collected from the primary data sources with the survey. In this context, explanatory factor analysis was applied to examine validity and reliability characteristics. In the study, explanatory factor analysis was applied to discover the structures that were not directly observed and therefore, intended to be measured indirectly. In addition, reliability analysis was performed with Cronbach's alpha coefficient calculated from the explanatory factor analysis. Within the scope of the study, hypothesis tests were applied to make comparisons between the groups examined in terms of both the derived factors and the items (questions). Considering the characteristics of the data set, the Mann-Whitney U test, which is among the nonparametric hypothesis tests, was applied. As a result of the study, three factors which are university-agency cooperation, structure of the board of directors and structure of development committees were found, and hypothesis tests were performed with these factor scores. Hypothesis tests were performed based on the answers given to the two items and a 0.05 difference between the two groups has been detected. Factor scores and hypothesis testing made on the basis of items, the answers of the participants to open-ended questions were examined and policy recommendations were made. It was concluded that the development agencies operating in Turkey have not met the expected success due to the fundamental problems such as institutional structure, lack of policy tools and funding, lack of regulations.