Cooperative Performance Research Articles

Linking Human Resource Management Practices and Firms' Performance Using Neural Networks

This paper investigates relationship between human resource management practices (HRM) and performance. This paper demonstrates how analysis to reveal relationship among dependent and independent variables in HRM-performance link can be done using artificial neural networks (ANN). Statistical package for the social sciences (SPSS) was used to produce ANN. It argues that HRM research should utilize the breadth of statistics available including data science statistics. This study utilizes positivist paradigmatic stance, descripto-explanatory research design, and survey methodology. Questionnaires were used in data collection. The study found that HRM practices are important in predicting financial and non-financial performance. Synergetic relationship among HRM practices was also found to predict financial and non-financial performance of financial cooperatives in Kenya. Apart from exploring HRM independent variables, their interrelationships must be explored and reported in literature.

Comparative Analysis of Environmental and Economic Performance of Agricultural Cooperatives and Smallholder Farmers for Apple Production in China

China is the world’s largest apple producer, and agricultural cooperatives play an important role in promoting sustainable production in its whole life cycle system. However, few studies on cooperatives have evaluated the environmental and economic performance from the life cycle thinking perspective. In this study, the combined methods of life cycle assessment (LCA) and life cycle cost (LCC) were used to comparatively analyze the environmental and economic performance of apple production between cooperatives and smallholder farmers. The results showed that, compared to the smallholder farmers, cooperatives significantly reduced resource depletion and environmental impacts by 12.50–22.16% in each category. The total environmental index for the cooperatives was 7.44% and 22.09% lower than smallholder farmers; meanwhile, the total LCC was 2659.71 Chinese Yuan (CNY), 19.27% lower than smallholder farmers. However, the net profit was 2990.29 CNY for the cooperatives, 21.23% higher than smallholder farmers. The results indicated that cooperatives exhibited a higher net profit while having lower resource input, environmental impact, and LCC than smallholder farmers. Moreover, pesticides and fertilizers were identified as the most critical environmental hotspots. Moreover, human labor cost was the most significant contributor to the total economic cost of the apple production system. These findings provide insights into optimizing farm inputs for apple production and active participation in agricultural cooperatives to alleviate multiple environmental impacts while maintaining apple yield and improving economic benefits, intending to make a marginal contribution to promoting sustainable development of the apple industry in China.

Cooperative Member Performance Model Through Competency Collaboration and Digital Marketing in Pangandaran Regency, West Java, Indonesia

This research aims to develop a problem-solving model by measuring the competence, digital marketing, and members’ performance of several cooperatives in Pangandaran Regency, West Java Province, Indonesia. This study uses quantitative methods with sequential explanation strategies through direct surveys to several cooperatives in Pangandaran Regency by conducting a structured questionnaire spread using closed questions taken from some literature using a Likert scale and some open-ended questions. Data analysis uses descriptive and verification uses t-test, ANOVA, and R square. This research was conducted to 100 members of cooperatives located in Pangandaran Regency. The reveal that the competence of cooperative members and digital marketing affect the achievement of cooperative members’ performance, both partially and simultaneously. Partially, the influence of cooperative members’ competence on the performance of cooperative members is 25,4%, while the influence of digital marketing on the performance of cooperative members is 8%. Simultaneously, it was found that the influence of cooperative members’ competence and digital marketing on the performance of cooperative members was 25,4% too.

Enhancing governance practice for better performance of credit union cooperatives in Thailand

AbstractCredit union cooperatives (CUCs) are member‐owned financial organisations that aim to improve the members’ living standards in Thailand. The success of Thailand CUCs is significantly associated with their good governance practices. This study provides an overview of Thailand CUCs’ governance practices and examines the impact of governance on the performance of Thailand CUCs. The study finds Thailand CUCs’ success varies in terms of financial and social performance. The results suggest that Thailand CUCs’ performance is affected by members’ participation, the board of directors, the management team, as well as the organisations’ age and size. This study extends the current limited knowledge on the governance‐performance nexus of Thailand CUCs in the literature, thus helping Thailand policymakers and practitioners boost both the financial and social performance of the CUCs in Thailand.

Organizational Commitment, Job Satisfaction, and Performance of Cooperatives

Cooperatives represent a resilient, vibrant, and viable economic alternative for achieving social goals because they can ensure more sustainable social and economic benefits within communities. This study determined the level of employees' organizational commitment, job satisfaction, and the performance of cooperatives in the province of Zamboanga del Sur, Zamboanga Peninsula Region. The study utilized a descriptive-correlational design. A total of 22 managers, 22 bookkeepers, and 76 employees served as respondents who were chosen through purposive and random sampling techniques, respectively. The organizational Commitment Questionnaire, Job Satisfaction Questionnaire, and Performance of Cooperatives Questionnaire were used to gather the data. Mean, Standard Deviation, Pearson Product Moment Correlation Coefficient, and Multiple Regression Coefficient Analysis were the statistical tools used in the study. Results showed that the employees had high organizational commitment and job satisfaction. In addition, the performance of cooperatives was very good. The level of the employees' organizational commitment in terms of affective commitment and level of job satisfaction in terms of work, physical working conditions, salary, and promotion were correlated with cooperatives' performance in compliance with government requirements and human resource management. In addition, the cooperatives showed good performance with employees who worked according to their assigned responsibilities. Keywords : economic alternative, government requirement, physical working conditions, promotion, salary

A multi-robot cooperative exploration algorithm considering working efficiency and working load

The cooperative exploration in unknown environment is a tough task for the multi-robot system. The imbalance of individual workload caused by the weak autonomous cooperation ability will affect the working efficiency of the multi-robot system. In this paper, a two-objective cooperative exploration algorithm (TOCEA) is proposed, where the working efficiency and working load at the individual and system levels are both considered. There are three parts in the proposed algorithm, namely, frontier detection, target point selection and exploration decision. First, based on the analysis of the frontier characteristics, the accumulation of local frontiers is used to replace the method of traversal search, which greatly improves the exploration efficiency. Second, each robot plays as an equal role to select their candidate target points from the individual level, and uses the maximum area criterion to select the final target points. Finally, the robot target points are clustered to reduce the repeated exploration of the robots, which is essential for reduce the path length and exploration time. Significantly, the whole exploration process is completely based on the autonomous cooperation of the robots. The experimental results performed on three different platforms illustrate that the TOCEA shows improvements in terms of working efficiency, cooperation performance and applicable fields.

The Effect of Sustainability Tension and Sustainability Synergy on Cooperative Performance

Interacting with value chain partners on sustainability is a multi-faceted issue, as its implementation frequently results in the formation of different identity conflicts and synergies. Individuals performing multiple job roles are pulled between many personal and corporate aspirations, as a generic product adds to the sales and net income whereas a sustainability offering contributes to the environment and society. In Study 1, 321 SME employees were asked to identify with a sustainability and non-sustainability offering they sell to their channel partner to understand how multiple identities (sustainability tension and sustainability synergy) within employees’ impact channel cooperative performance. As the key cognitive and motivational process through which tension/synergy identities can enact channel member’s behavior, we also examined the role of self -efficacy and perspective-taking. With two experimental studies, the causal inference was supplemented to strengthen the findings from field investigation. The results found independent effects of sustainability conflict and sustainability synergy on self-efficacy, perspective-taking and cooperative performance. Perspective-taking does not act as a mediator, whereas self-efficacy does. We observed that the negative effect of sustainability tension is reduced when self-efficacy is high, and the positive effect of sustainability synergy is reduced with low self-efficacy. The research explains the impact of multiple (conflicting and synergizing) identities within individual employees on cooperative performance in channels during interpersonal interactions.

The Effect of Work-life Quality and Transglobal Leadership on Employee Performance of Sharia Saving-load and Finance Cooperative

This study aims to examine the effect of work-life quality and transglobal leadership on employee performance of Sharia Saving-Loan and Finance Cooperative. The population of this study consisted of employees of sharia saving-loan and finance cooperative in Banten. Sampling was carried out using the minimum criteria from the SEM-PLS, ranging from 35 to 100. Data was obtained by using a questionnaire. This research is a quantitative study. The data were analyzed using Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) and processed using Partial Least Square (PLS) analysis with the Smartpls 3.0 application. This study found that the work-life quality has a positive and significant effect on organizational commitment, the work-life quality has a positive and significant effect on employee performance, transglobal leadership has a positive and significant effect on organizational commitment, transglobal leadership does not have any effect on employee performance, organizational commitment has a positive effect and significant on employee performance, organizational commitment mediates the effect of work-life quality on employee performance and organizational commitment mediates the effect of transglobal leadership on employee performance.

The Role of Members’ Participation in Cooperative Success in Ethiopia

Member-owned business organizations, such as cooperatives (or co-ops), are engaged in various economic activities that touch our everyday lives. In developing countries like Ethiopia, there are various advantages for small farmers in joining a cooperative, including lowering costs of marketing, purchasing inputs, bargaining, etc. Cooperatives contribute to the overall economic growth of Ethiopia. But, cooperative members’ participation in the activities of cooperatives is often challenging, especially in large cooperatives with diversified business activities and with large and heterogeneous membership. The review aims to explore the role of members’ participation in cooperative success in Ethiopia. The study is based on review of pertinent literature on members’ participation in Ethiopia as well as secondary data obtained from various sources. The review identified the contributions of members’ participation in cooperative success development, which contribute to the improvement of cooperative performance and the challenges facing the participation of members’. Finally; the study suggested promoting members’ participation among the cooperatives which can increase cooperative development to improve cooperative development in developing countries in general and Ethiopia in particular. Keywords : Members’ participation, Participation, Cooperative development, Cooperative performance DOI: 10.7176/RHSS/12-15-03 Publication date: August 31 st 2022

The Influence of Diverse Board on Cooperative Performance: The Mediating Effect of Conflict

This study examines the relationship between board diversity and performance through the mediating effects of conflict in consumer cooperatives. Cooperative boards play a dual role, stimulating business activity and helping boards democratically controlled by their members. We argue that decision making, policy, and performance depend on the composition of a board. Analyzing 423 questionnaires submitted by 66 local cooperatives, this study shows that diverse boards can have a negative effect on performance, even though their functional diversity may be positive, while conflicts over performing tasks may mediate background diversity and performance.

Pengaruh Kreativitas terhadap hubungan Kepuasan Kerja dan Kinerja Karyawan pada Koperasi di Kecamatan Denpasar Utara

Maximum cooperative management has an impact on cooperative performance that is getting better and healthier. Management of human resources in cooperatives is a way to improve cooperative performance. From the development of cooperatives and the results of interviews with cooperative employees about creativity that tends to be low, job satisfaction is lacking and employee performance is low, it will be very important and it is necessary to do research. Research respondents totaled 60 people, with a sampling technique that is non-probability sampling and analyzed using Smart PLS. The results and discussion of the data in this study indicate that the performance of employees at cooperative institutions in the North Denpasar sub-district is strongly influenced by the level of creativity and the role of employee job satisfaction itself. From these results, it is suggested that cooperative institutions in developing their businesses should be based on the value of creativity in providing services to the community, considering that cooperative institutions currently have almost the same service concept so they need to be supported by a dimension of creativity that provides innovation value in competition.

STUDY OF THE IMPACT OF LABELS ON THE COMMERCIAL PERFORMANCE OF COOPERATIVES CASE OF A COOPERATIVE IN THE ESSAOUIRA, MOROCCO

The main objective of each entity is the achievement of profit, so the manager has to look for the best solutions and actions to achieve better performance. Cooperatives, like any organization, are no exception to this rule. Faced with the many problems they face in terms of marketing their products, they need to adopt innovative approaches, particularly the labeling of their products. In the framework of our research, we have focused on the role of labels in the commercial performance of cooperatives, based on data collected from our survey with these social entities.

Regulatory Framework and Performance of Saving and Credit Co-Operatives in Rwanda:A Survey of Selected Saving and Credit Co-Operatives in Gasabo District

A regulatory framework is regulation, law, rule or other orders prescribed by authority, especially to regulate the conduct of SACCO in Rwanda. Hence, the study sought to examine the impact of the regulatory framework on the performance of SACCOs in Rwanda with specific reference to the Survey of selected SACCOs in the Gasabo District. The research used a descriptive research design. The study targeted 110 drawn from two categories SACCO staff /employees and SACCO members. The study used both primary data and secondary data. The primary data was collected using structured questionnaires both open and closed. The data was analyzed using a qualitative and quantitative method using MS excel SPSS. Research findings showed there is a very high correlation (r=0.943) between internal control and performance. In addition, the study findings indicated a very high correlation (r=0.823) between saving mobilization and the performance of Sacco. It was revealed there is a very high correlation (r=0.749) between credit risk management and the performance of Sacco. The study reported the correlations between liquidity requirements and performance of SACCO is very high (r=0.923). Moreover, the results established that the regulatory framework is satisfactory in determining the performance. The adjusted R square was found to be 0.887. This implied that the regulatory framework could explain 88.7% of the variations in the performance. All four variables of the regulatory framework: Internal control, saving mobilization, credit risk management and liquidity requirement, were positively correlated to the performance. Furthermore, regression indicates that any change (increase) would have a significant change in the performance of Selected SACCO in the GASABO District. The recommendation is that the RCA and other policymakers of saving and credit cooperatives in Rwanda should clear that internal control, saving mobilization, credit risk management and liquidity requirement, and performance of selected Saccos in Gasabo District, Rwanda. There should be structuralization of permanent internal audit control and verification for all income and expenses of SACCOs and should set the boundaries for some members who ask for loans to limit payment loans. Keywords: Internal control, Saving mobilization, Credit risk management, Liquidity requirement, Performance

Pengaruh Trust, Gaya Kepemimpinan, Sistem Pengendalian Manajemen dan Kompetensi Sumber Daya Manusia terhadap Kinerja Keuangan Koperasi (Studi Kasus Pada Koperasi di Kecamatan Selaparang Kota Mataram)

This study aims to analyze the influence of trust, leadership style, management control systems and human resource competencies on the financial performance of cooperatives in Selaparang District of Mataram City. This research method uses quantitative research methods with primary data obtained from a Likert scale questionnaires. The population used is all members of 119 cooperatives in Selaparang district of Mataram City. The sample of this research is the finance staff and supervisors whose numbers are determined using the Slovin formula so that a total of 98 people is obtained as the study sample. The results of this study indicate that (1) Quality of Trust has a significant negative effect on the financial performance of cooperatives in Selaparang district of the Mataram city. (2) Leadership style has a significant positive effect on the financial performance of cooperatives in Selaparang district of the Mataram city. (3) The management control system has a significant positive effect on the financial performance of cooperatives in Selaparang district of the Mataram city. (4) Human resource competence has a significant positive effect on the financial performance of cooperatives in Selaparang district of the Mataram city

Internal factors affecting the performance of employee-based savings and credit cooperatives: evidence from Nigeria

PurposeDrawing upon stewardship and resource-based view theories, the purpose of this study is to empirically examine the impacts of management committee effectiveness (MCE), member economic participation (MEP), innovation (INNOV) and internal control systems (ICS) on the performance of employee-based savings and credit cooperatives (SACCOs) in Nigeria.Design/methodology/approachThis study adopted a survey research design. Thus, a structured questionnaire was used to collect data from a sample of 295 members of six employee-based SACCOs in Nigeria. To test the study hypotheses, partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM), through SmartPLS version 2, was used.FindingsThe results show that MCE, MEP, INNOV and ICS have significant positive links with the performance of employee-based SACCOs. Further analysis reveals that MCE has the greatest impact on performance, followed by MEP, ICS and INNOV, respectively.Practical implicationsThe findings provide practical and managerial implications for members and management committees of employee-based SACCOs.Originality/valueThere is a paucity of studies on the impacts of MCE, MEP, INNOV and ICS on cooperative performance. This study contributes to the literature on cooperatives by demonstrating the positive impacts of MCE, MEP, INNOV and ICS on cooperative performance in a single study.

Pengaruh kepemimpinan, pengambilan risiko, inovasi, partisipasi intensif dan partisipasi kontributif terhadap kinerja koperasi di Purbalingga Jawa Tengah

This study aims to analyze the effect of leadership, risk taking, innovation, intensive participation and contributive participation on the performance of cooperatives in Banyumas, Central Java. The method used is multiple regression analysis using the F-test, R2-test, and T-test analysis methods. Based on the results of the analysis and discussion, it shows that risk-taking, innovation, and intensive participation affect the performance of cooperatives in Purbalingga, Central Java, Indonesia. Contributive leadership and participation have no effect on cooperative performance in Purbalingga, Central Java, Indonesia.

Decision optimization in cooperation innovation: the impact of big data analytics capability and cooperative modes.

Data-driven innovation enables firms to design products that are more responsive to market needs, which greatly reduces the risk of innovation. Customer data in the same supply chain has certain commonality, but data separation makes it difficult to maximize data value. The selection of an appropriate mode for cooperation innovation should be based on the particular big data analytics capability of the firms. This paper focuses on the influence of big data analytics capability on the choice of cooperation mode, and the influence of their matching relationship on cooperation performance. Specifically, using game-theoretic models, we discuss two cooperation modes, data analytics is implemented individually (i.e., loose cooperation) by either firm, or jointly (tight cooperation) by both firms, and further discuss the addition of coordination contracts under the loose mode. Several important conclusions are obtained. Firstly, both firms’ big data capability have positive effects on the selection of tight cooperation mode. Secondly, with the improvement of big data capability, the firms’ innovative performance gaps between loose and tight mode will increase significantly. Finally, when the capability meet certain condition, the cost subsidy contract can alleviate the gap between the two cooperative models.

Research on the cooperative car-following behavior based on traffic information iteration

Under the condition of vehicle-to-vehicle communication, different information transmission mechanisms may have different effects on the cooperative performance of road traffic. In this paper, a new car-following model with consideration of the iterative traffic information transmission mechanism of vehicle-to-vehicle communication is proposed. The influence of the iterative traffic information transmission mechanism on the cooperative car-following behavior has been revealed. It is proved that based on the iterative traffic information transmission of vehicle-to-vehicle communication, the information of the two nearest preceding vehicles ahead of the ego vehicle has the most obvious role in stabilizing traffic flow. Also, the information of the third or fourth vehicles in front of the ego vehicle has a certain stabilizing effect, but the traffic information of the fifth or further preceding vehicles in front of the ego vehicle has little effect in enhancing traffic stability. This result provides a reference vehicle number for the cooperative car-following performance under the iterative traffic information transmission mechanism of vehicle-to-vehicle communication.

Investigating the Inclusive-Performance Tradeoff in Agricultural Cooperatives: Evidence from Nepal

Is there a tradeoff between inclusive membership and market performance in agricultural cooperatives? Prior studies argue that inclusive membership practices damage cooperative performance by increasing internal transaction and coordination costs. Determining the extent of this tradeoff is essential to understanding the role that cooperatives play in alleviating poverty. Previous studies have largely overlooked the extent to which organizational activities are inclusive of existing members. We expand the definition of inclusive membership to account for extensive as well as intensive inclusion, where the former describes the diversity of a cooperative’s membership and the latter refers to including existing members in group activities. We examine the inclusive-performance tradeoff with respect to both dimensions of inclusion. Our results suggest that extensive inclusion is associated with lower market performance, while intensive inclusion is associated with higher market performance. This indicates that both extensive and intensive inclusion have a meaningful, but opposite, association with a cooperative’s ability to achieve market performance.

THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN INDUSTRY UNIVERSITY RESEARCH COOPERATION MODE, KNOWLEDGE CREATION PERFORMANCE AND EMOTIONAL REGULATION AND MENTAL HEALTH OF COLLEGE TEACHERS AND STUDENTS

BackgroundIn order to solve the “two skins” of science and technology and economic development, as well as the lack of close cooperation between industry, University and research, and the low efficiency of cooperative knowledge creation. We should improve the knowledge creation performance of industry university research cooperation and select the appropriate mode of industry university research cooperation. Generally speaking, “Industry” in industry university research cooperation refers to enterprises relying on technological innovation; “Learning” means universities; “Research” mainly means scientific research institutes focusing on basic research, applied research and various technological development. But in a broad sense, industry university research cooperation usually expands the principal parts to government, intermediary institutions, financial and venture capital institutions in addition to universities, enterprises and scientific research institutes.Subjects and MethodsBased on Ebbinghaus forgetting curve and SECI knowledge creation model, this paper makes a quantitative study by analyzing the knowledge creation mechanism of industry university research cooperation and using the method of difference analysis. By designing a questionnaire, this paper investigates the sample data of three representative northeast provinces in China, and draws a scientific conclusion.ResultsThe results show that different industry university research cooperation modes have significant differences in the creation performance of explicit knowledge and tacit knowledge. This determines that different industry university research cooperation modes have significant differences in the total performance of knowledge creation. And the stronger the degree of cooperation embeddedness, the more significant the impact on knowledge creation performance.ConclusionsThis research result tell us when choosing the cooperation mode, enterprises, universities and scientific research institutes should choose the mode with as strong embeddedness as possible under their own acceptable conditions. And enterprises should send personnel to colleges and universities to learn advanced theoretical knowledge and increase the stock of tacit knowledge; Universities and scientific research institutes send personnel to enterprises to learn advanced practical experience and supplement practical knowledge. In order to avoid knowledge forgetting, try to convert tacit knowledge into explicit knowledge and record it for later use. It can also be passed on as data to later people for learning and use. This paper further consummate the relevant research on knowledge creation performance, makes up for the lack of research on the relationship between industry university research cooperation modes and knowledge creation performance, and provides a certain theoretical foundation and empirical reference for industry university research principal parts to strengthen cooperation and improve knowledge creation performance.AcknowledgementsThis research was funded by “The key project of Heilongjiang Education Science ‘13th five year plan’ in 2020”, (grant number: GJB1320109) and “Ministry of education industry university research collaborative education project”, (grant number: 201902067011).