Journal of Co-operative Organization and Management最新文献

This paper focuses on the sustainability information voluntarily disclosed by Italian mutual banks or credit cooperative banks (CCBs) over the period 2015–2019. Our paper aims to contribute to the increasing debate on sustainability in banking sectors by investigating the quality of disclosure by Italian mutual banks, a peculiar non-profit category of banks which combine the value maximization for their stakeholders with the development of the local economy. We selected the Italian co-operative credit sector as it is one of the largest markets in Europe. We analyzed the quality of voluntary sustainability disclosure, in the light of the legitimacy theory, building an ad hoc framework which combines the three main CSR guidelines at international, national and local level (GRI, ABI and Federcasse) for Italian CCBs and content-analyzing each SR issued by the sampled CCBs. Our findings highlight a low general quality of the CSR information disclosure and a not homogeneous quality score for the different disclosed NFI category. Limits, future research directions and implications are provided.

This research examines how values congruence (person-organisation fit), affective commitment (personal preference for membership) and perceived value (e.g., quality vs price) influence the active membership of small to medium enterprise (SME) owner-managers, who are members of business co-operatives (e.g., those owned by businesses). A sample of 264 SME owner-manager members was obtained and a path model utilising SEM was used to estimate the relationships between the constructs. Significant relationships were found between all constructs. Values congruence influenced affective commitment and overall value that, in turn influenced active membership. The results provide empirical support for suggestions about the factors that influence active membership in co-operatives. Particularly those with SMEs as members. It also suggests co-operative managers should focus on ensuring there is a congruency in values with members, rather than solely focusing on members’ patronage. The paper highlights the importance of co-operatives to be built on the foundation of congruency in value, and value between the co-operative and its members, rather than solely focusing on economic outcomes.

This paper aims to highlight the historical development of agricultural cooperatives in Sudan by examining Gum Arabic Producers’ Associations (GAPAs) as a case study. Using a systematic literature review approach, the article relied on desk research from relevant secondary sources. Past and current data on the GAPAs’ development were analyzed to present trends. While various forms of traditional cooperation in the agriculture sector exist in Sudan, the first formal attempt to establish cooperatives was undertaken in the 1920s. The development of the cooperative movement was strongly influenced by changing governmental policies during the different governmental eras. Political intervention, lack of finance, poor infrastructure and limited capacity of cooperative members and managers were major constraints that hindered the cooperative movement. GAPAs were first established in 1992 in North Kordofan State, and the model was scaled up in 2005 to the whole country. The main objective of GAPAs is to increase the production of gum Arabic, for example by reducing the members’ dependency on the traditional finance (Shail) system. However, GAPAs have faced the same constraints that also hindered other types of agricultural cooperatives. The government’s focus on primarily increasing the number of GAPAs and size of membership rather than improving their organizational capacity and quality of services to members has largely rendered the GAPAs ineffective. Therefore, the study recommends raising awareness among policymakers in Sudan for the problems GAPAs and other agricultural cooperatives currently face, as well as of local communities working in agriculture for the antecedents and benefits of collective action, which remains an urgent priority.

Cooperative financial institutions are believed to be less vulnerable to business and economic fluctuations linked to recessions and crises. This paper examines the short-term effects of Covid-19 on the British credit union sector drawing on survey data for 58 credit unions and follow-up interviews with 21 credit union managers. Loan demand, and the volume and value of loans were significantly lower in March and April 2020 after the introduction of government restrictions than in March and April 2019. Bad debt provisioning was also significantly higher in April 2020 than in April 2019. There was no significant difference for loan interest income between April 2019 and April 2020. The findings suggest that credit unions were affected by the pandemic in the same way as other financial institutions. For the majority of the credit unions, the decline in lending may be explained by a drop in consumer demand rather than restrictions put on the supply of credit. It is too early to conclude if the adverse economic conditions caused by Covid-19 will negatively affect the sustainability and ability of the sector to generate surpluses or if the cooperative model will shield the sector from resulting economic fluctuations, as suggested by the literature.

Co-operatives are essentially relational entities which are jointly co-created by members and the co-operative. This relational co-creation is particularly important in the founding years of the co-operative and at points of crisis and regeneration in the co-operative lifecycle. This paper explores the relationship between member openness towards relational engagement and their perception of the co-operative’s openness to that input (perceived openness) in a credit union context, prior to a major period of restructuring. Perceived openness is examined from two distinct perspectives, that is, awareness of right of involvement as owners (which in this paper we equated with co-operative member ownership structure) and possibility of involvement or perception of organisation openness (which in this paper we equated with co-operative process). It was found in the multivariate Logistic model that possibility rather than right of involvement is related to member openness. This suggests that the process of co-operation in a co-operative plays a greater role than the organisational structure of that co-operative in facilitating member input. This is a significant finding and suggests that greater attention needs to be given to process and openness in co-operative research and practice. It also suggests that co-operatives cannot just draw on their member ownership structure, in building member engagement at time of crisis.

While agriculture is unique with respect to the prevalence of producer owned cooperatives (coops) operating alongside and investor owned firms (IOFs), little is known about their relative reliance on futures markets to hedge commodity price risk. This study investigates factors influencing the hedging behavior of both business forms and finds that each are significantly impacted by the perspective of key influencers of their decision making units (e.g., employees, members, shareholders, board of directors, advisors, consultants, bankers). Notably, coops are found to be more likely to hedge using futures but do so more sparingly (i.e., lower hedging ratios), which may reflect an ability to conduct natural hedges internally and/or less speculative positions taken in futures markets. [Econ Lit classification: Q130].

Sustainability transitions call for new forms of collaboration supported by proper regulatory structures that enable multiple actors across sectoral boundaries to contribute to a system-level change towards more sustainable production and consumption practices. This paper integrates innovation research with intellectual property law to explore how such a systemic collaboration for sustainable innovation should be characterised, and how the intellectual property rights (IPR) system could be shaped to support it. First, we analyse existing research on open innovation and IPR and point to limitations in their applicability to systemic transitions for sustainability. Second, drawing on innovation ecosystems research, we outline a model of systemic collaboration for sustainable innovation, which highlights the co-specialisation of heterogeneous actors around system-specific alignment structures as the basis of the creation of system-level sustainability-improving solutions. Third, we analyse the limitations of the current IPR system vis-à-vis this type of systemic collaboration model and develop novel insights into how IPR could be shaped and leveraged to support systemic sustainable innovation.

Coopetition is known to impact several firm outcomes, but past research has produced contradictory insights about the role of size and number of coopetitors. It remains unclear how coopetition network size might influence the roles of coopetition, analytical capabilities, and ambidexterity on firm performance in the supply chain context. We draw on coopetition theory to scrutinize the effects of supply chain analytics capabilities, coopetition, and ambidexterity on firm performance and the moderating role of supply chain coopetition network size. We conducted a survey study on firms in the UAE, with participants holding managerial positions (n = 203), and applied PLS-SEM for analysis. The findings demonstrated that supply chain analytical capabilities, coopetition, and ambidexterity increases firm performance. Surprisingly, supply chain coopetition network size did not moderate the impact of supply chain coopetition, analytical capabilities, and ambidexterity on firm performance. The study concludes with contributions to theory and practice.

This study examines the crowding out of informal institutions after the introduction of formalized collective action in isolated and subsistence-oriented regions, using the case of coffee cooperatives in Ngozi Province, Burundi. Using experimental economics, we provide evidence that cooperative membership can corrode existing intrinsic motivations to cooperate spontaneously by replacing it with incentivized, extrinsic motivations for formalized cooperation. Using a two-way censored tobit, we estimate a model explaining farmers’ contributions to a standard Public Goods Game as a measure of spontaneous cooperation. Contributions to a standard Dictator and Lottery Task Game were used as controls, and found to be strongly and positively correlated to the dependent variable. Cooperative membership, on the other hand, was found to be significantly negatively correlated to spontaneous cooperation. Men were found to contribute more to the Public Goods Game, as were farmers who are less food secure. We conclude crowding out takes place as incentives for formalized cooperation and serves as a substitute for spontaneous cooperation in regions with little formal institutions. If cooperation is indeed an important factor for development, this crowding out effect must be considered.

In this paper, we examine the relevance of both traditional and non-traditional data in predicting default in two financial co-operatives (co-ops) in Kenya. Using micro-level secondary data representing 1753 borrower data extracted from the co-op systems of the two sample financial co-ops from June 2018 to July 2019, random panel logistic regressions are performed. The results, which are performed at both disaggregated and aggregated levels for both traditional and non-traditional features, reveal that both sets of features are useful in predicting default in financial co-ops. More specifically, we find that traditional features such as a longer member duration, higher value of deposits, and higher outstanding loan amounts are associated with lower default. In the case of non-traditional features, we find that borrowers drawn from the top 5 centres exhibit higher default rates. The results further show that borrowers who visit co-op offices more often are less likely to default. We further establish that the predictive power of the models improves when both traditional and non-traditional features are incorporated. The results in this study provide useful insights to managers and leaders when seeking operational and loan management systems for co-ops.