Member Commitment in Co-operatives: The Utilitarian Approach

Abstract

Research on co-operative organizations has posited member commitment to the co-operative as a critical issue for sustainable and successful co-operation. A review of literature on member commitment reveals that a variety of antecedents for a need to, desire to, or obligation to maintain their patronage have been identified. The purpose of this paper is to gather together existing ideas that have been put forward aligning with the utilitarian approach to member commitment. In other words, this paper provides a framework valuable for future research and practice on the topic. The main intellectual contribution is that this paper provides an advanced outline and additional rigor to the map of sources for utilitarian commitment in the context of co-operative organizations.