Designing indicators for cooperative sustainability: the Malaysian perspective

Abstract

Purpose This study aims to design a set of sustainability indicators that is pertinent to cooperatives longevity. The primary goal of the cooperatives is towards meeting the economic progress of members while satisfying their socio-cultural interests and protecting the environment. As a sustainable and participatory form of business, cooperatives offer an alternative business model to social enterprises. Design/methodology/approach Using an extraction process analysis, this study examined and analyzed guidelines, indices, and framework on sustainability used by the public companies. The selected materials were analyzed using Atlas.ti software, whereby common indicators were divided into themes. The indicators were further scrutinized to suit the cooperatives identity and local regulations. Findings The results are presented as indicators for cooperatives sustainability that could serve as strategies and performance measurement. Promotion and expansion of cooperatives could be an important instrument for more than one billion people around the world involved in cooperatives either as members/customers, employees/participants, or both. Originality/value This work extends and complements the on-going efforts in uplifting the cooperatives sector as the third engine of economic growth in Malaysia. It contributes towards enriching the knowledge of the relationship between sustainable development and sustainability and its influence towards the cooperative sector. It may also provide the building blocks for future studies that could explore the usefulness of these indicators to other business setting having a similar objective like the cooperatives.

The Effect of ESG Performance on Economic Performance in the High Profile Industry in Indonesia

“…The independent variable used is ESG performance as measured by content analysis with G4 as an indicator (34 environmental indicators, 48 social indicators, and 22 governance indicators) (Aris et al, 2018). Content analysis used with giving score (1 = yes, 0 = no) to the company's disclosure.…”

“…Content analysis is also widely used in previous research. The generally accepted indicator for analyzing disclosure content is the GRI 4 (G4) standard with five categories (116 indicators) (Aris et al 2018).…”

Investigating Sustainability-oriented Practices in Malaysian Oil Palm Cooperatives: A Construct Validation Method Using Confirmatory Composite Analysis

“…Cooperatives have a crucial and dual-pronged role by satisfying their members' social need while achieving viable profits. Indeed, cooperatives receive ever-growing attention recently given their critical roles to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030 (Abdul Aris et al, 2018;UN, 2017). Previous studies (Abdul Aris et al, 2018;Marcis, Pinheiro de Lima, et al, 2019;Ismail et al, 2019) argued that cooperatives should embrace sustainability in their operations.…”

“…Indeed, cooperatives receive ever-growing attention recently given their critical roles to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030 (Abdul Aris et al, 2018;UN, 2017). Previous studies (Abdul Aris et al, 2018;Marcis, Pinheiro de Lima, et al, 2019;Ismail et al, 2019) argued that cooperatives should embrace sustainability in their operations. These studies' critical sentiments are how cooperatives should respond to sustainability demand and pressures by adopting cost-effective practices and balancing the three constituents of sustainability following the Elkington's (1998) triple bottom line framework, encompassing social, economy, and environmental dimensions simultaneously.…”

“…These studies' critical sentiments are how cooperatives should respond to sustainability demand and pressures by adopting cost-effective practices and balancing the three constituents of sustainability following the Elkington's (1998) triple bottom line framework, encompassing social, economy, and environmental dimensions simultaneously. Unfortunately, the cooperatives' sustainability practices only gained limited interest by the policymakers, given their gradually stagnant performance (Abdul Aris et al, 2018;Janius, 2019). Although, there are literature that examines the sustainability orientation and phenomenon in cooperatives, yet most of these studies suggest the conceptual and design perspective (Abdul Aris et al, 2018;Marcis, Bortoluzzi, et al, 2019;Mohammad Ismail et al, 2019) while the validation of the second-order sustainability construct based on the three dimensions is undermined.…”