From governance structure to governance mechanisms: opening the black box of the member-cooperative relationship
Year: 2013
Type: book
Abstract: Governance of any inter-firm collaboration has at least two functions: maintaining partners’ commitment and aligning interests on the one hand, and aligning and adjusting partners’ actions and decisions on the other hand. While organizational economics has always emphasized the importance of market and hierarchy as governance mechanisms that support cooperation and coordination between transaction partners, agricultural cooperative are complex organisational configurations, that include two more governance mechanisms: democracy and community. This paper develops a conceptual framework for analyzing the effect of four different governance mechanisms on cooperation and coordination in voluntary member-based organisation, such as agricultural cooperatives. We conjecturre that this effect is mediated by individual member commitment and the extent of cognitive heterogeneity among the membership. Corresponding author: Jos Bijman, Wageningen University, Management Studies Group
Authors: Jos Bijman, Andrei Cechin, Stefano Pascucci
Language: English
Subfield: Strategy and Management
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W2186519635