Member Preferences for Cooperative Attributes: A Best-Worst Scale Analysis

Cooperatives are member-oriented organizations, and their sustainable performance is highly influenced by the level of commitment of their members. Commitment is driven by member preferences (i.e., utility) for the intra-organizational and strategic attributes of a cooperative. The main objective of this chapter is to study empirically the relative importance that members attach to selected cooperative attributes (i.e., economic benefits; additional services; market access; corporate governance; communication, control, ideology). To address this objective, a questionnaire-based survey was carried out in Zagora, Magnesia, Greece, in the “ZAGORIN” multi-purpose agricultural cooperative in the fall of 2021. The best-worst scale method was applied to analyze the data (n = 106) and a latent class analysis (LCA) was further employed in order to identify the diversity in members’ preferences. The findings indicate that the economic benefits are the most important attribute. Furthermore, the results of the LCA revealed two distinct sub-groups among the total sample of participants: the “business-oriented” (larger in size segment, n = 74) and the “ideology seekers” sub-group (much smaller in size segment, n = 32). Knowledge of the existence of member segments and an understanding of their preferences may be useful for cooperative policy makers and managers to better evaluate the extent of member commitment, and make more informed decisions of how a cooperative can service its membership needs.