This study finds that selective incentives induce district council members and chairpersons to work for the collective best of a co-operative membership. Being the lowest echelon of a co-operative's internal governance hierarchy, district councils constitute a link between the membership and the board of directors. Previous research indicates that district council members are often driven by a co-operative conviction and social concerns. The present study challenges this view. On the basis of a survey of all 191 district council members and council chairpersons of a large Swedish agricultural co-operative, it is found that the elected representatives rank low in terms of co-operative conviction and social concerns. They involve themselves mainly in order to get personal benefits; they want to gain access to information, mature personally and obtain inputs to develop their farm enterprises. The financial compensation is of limited importance.
This study explored the relations between the farmer‐members' social networks and their interest in cooperative governance, specifically their willingness to be elected representatives. Several researchers assert that member interest in cooperative governance is related to social factors. The empirical basis consists of surveys of random samples of Swedish farmers conducted in 1993, 2003, and 2013. The results indicate a strong relationship between the social networks and the farmers' propensity to participate in cooperative governance. This relationship has persisted even though the investigated 20‐year period was very turbulent for Swedish agriculture. Over time, members have become more willing to be elected when they receive backing from their social networks, with personal networks being more important than professional networks. The professional networks are related only to the level of aspiration and not actual participation in governance. [EconLit Citations: D73, P13, Q13].
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