Table 4 reflects the collectivist thoughts that were formulated by the
members that were drawn from their cooperatives’ vision statements.
Apparently, the members established their cooperatives in order to
attain their mixed of aspirations such improving their economic, social
and political conditions. They organized their cooperatives and pooled
their resources together with the purpose of improving themselves
through collective action. The chi-square test reveals that the
cooperatives have significant differences in terms of their collectivist
aspirations. Using the frequency counts and percentages, the
cooperatives gives greater attention on economic aspirations (51%) than
their social (27%) and political thoughts (21%). In addition, the
collectivist thoughts are dependent on the size of the cooperatives,
wherein the collectivist thoughts were mostly observed among micro and
small cooperatives than those medium and large cooperatives.
Table 5 presents the sub-themes of the members’ economic aspirations
that were drawn from the cooperatives’ vision statements. As observed,
the members view their cooperatives as effective means that could allow
them to improve their economic conditions, living standards and to bring
sustainable impact to the society and environment. Based on frequency
count and percentages, the highest rank is allowing the cooperatives to
generate adequate financial resources in which they could attain this by
contributing their resources and eventually growing their business
through their patronage and collective efforts. As they progress, they
can uplift their members’ lives, encourage them to save and become
entrepreneurs, and become self-reliant. Contemporary cooperatives have
similar experiences to that of Robert Owen and Dr. William King when
they founded the early cooperatives. Whereas, the cooperatives were
ideated and created by the members by pooling together their resources
and eventually improve their economic conditions. This affirms what
Hayek (1963) and Durkheim (1984) have stated: collectivist societies
demonstrate their survival by collectively owning material means and
controlling their use to achieve their desired goals.
Table 6 presents the sub-themes of the members’ social aspirations. The
result manifests that cooperatives are acting as relational entities
wherein the members can claim their self-identity and belongingness with
others. The result shows that the members joined cooperatives with the
intention of achieving happiness, peace and quality of life in which
they could only realize if they integrate themselves to collective
organizations such as cooperatives that could recognize their social
needs. Most often, the members feel secured and happier since they
themselves can resolve matters, attain together quality life that
consequently give them peace of mind, and pursue their common beliefs,
norms, attitude and culture. Through this, the members can express their
desire to work with others and develop stronger social bond wherein they
have sensitivity to interpersonal relationships such as belongingness,
dependency, empathy, and norms of reciprocity. This affirms Rothschild
(2016) who asserted that collectivist institutions could accommodate
diversities and allow them to establish social relationships. Tiessen
(1997) also mentioned that collectivism can foster harmonious
relationships among its members.
Interestingly, cooperatives are not limited to economic and social
aspect. This study reveals that cooperatives also stand as a polity
where the members aspire for better political and governance system.
Through their cooperatives they can collectively improve their political
condition and impose their desire for better governance. Based on
cooperative principles, cooperatives adopt autonomous and democratic
form of governance system wherein the collective members are the highest
authority while the leaders have to abide with the collectives’ will.
Table 7 portrays the expectations of the members from their elected
officers. For instance, they desire for strong and dynamic leadership
and management so that their respective cooperative becomes a model,
good standing and respected cooperative.
The attainment of the vision statements is reflected in the mission
statement of the cooperatives. The mission statements provide the
cooperatives approach, core purpose and direction that were collectively
formulated in order for them to attain their vision statements. Table 8
to 11 present the frequency counts and percentages of the collectivist
thoughts as observed in three dimensions such as economic, social and
political.
Table 8. Collectivism in the Mission Statements of Cooperatives