Abstract
The poor financial performance of a number of previously successful agricultural cooperatives appears to be connected to member commitment, which in turn is linked to the decisions made by the cooperatives’ leaders. While cooperative members should have an incentive to hire leaders that promote strong organizational commitment, the evidence suggests this incentive is weaker than imagined. This paper shows that cooperatives that believe they have a well-defined and loyal membership are less likely to hire leaders that will enhance member commitment. Thus, historical success is no guarantee of future success and may in fact contain the seeds of failure.
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Fulton, M., Giannakas, K. (2007). Agency and Leadership in Cooperatives. In: Vertical Markets and Cooperative Hierarchies. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/1-4020-5543-0_6
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/1-4020-5543-0_6
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