Participação democrática digital em cooperativas de crédito

Abstract

Some cooperative types have already made important investments in the digitalization of their businesses, but little has been developed in the use of technology to develop membership. Thus, this paper aimed to analyse aspects of democratic participation in credit cooperatives in the digital era, proposing ways to make it more effective. A quantitative research was carried out with 52 cooperatives of a cooperative credit system and a qualitative research, in which they analysed experiences already made by them. As results, we identified three different digital experiences of assemblies and the use of informal tools for relationship with the cooperative. The paper points out digital experiences new to the academic field, but mainly that the challenge of the digital age for cooperatives is not the technology itself, but the cultural change necessary to enhance the participation of the members through the digitalization and a concept change that this era could mean to the cooperatives a participative one.