Introduction
Collectivism serves as an important philosophy for collective actions
such as cooperatives, yet there were limited literatures exploring its
contemporary application. Meanwhile, studies on cooperatives focused on
practical solutions, immediate actions and they are mostly drawn from
the technocrat’s perspectives rather than from the origins of collective
behaviour. This trend had actually pushed the cooperative movement into
business directed motion rather than from its philosophical origins of
governance through collectivism. Moreover, cooperative studies are often
written from a compartmentalized perspective wherein the economic,
social and political are treated separately. Studies highlight the
economic value of cooperatives in which they are vehicles to improve
quality of life, an alternative political system to capitalism and
socialism, or as a social system to attain society’s goal. There has
been no literature that puts together a holistic picture of cooperatives
from its philosophical origin towards gathering empirical evidences of
collectivism as observed in the various economic, social and political
aspects. Hence, this study attempts draw a holistic picture of the
economic, social and political aspects of cooperatives and integrate
collectivism as a philosophical construct on organizational level (i.e.
cooperative) that supports recommendations of researches on
collectivism. For instance Oyserman, et al. (2002) suggests that future
researches must study collectivism in the organizational and societal
level to avoid becoming theoretically empty in the era. For Guess
(2004), he also mentioned that the study of collectivism is rarely
explored in the organizational setting, yet collectivism is a relevant
factor in decision-making. In the recent study of Yang, et al. (2014),
they pointed out that a study of collectivism in the organizational
level is beneficial because it could provide insightful evidence that
collectivism is essential solution to control self-centered behavior.
Cooperatives can be differentiated with other types of organizations
since they embody collectivism as a way of life. The individuals’
participation in a cooperative is a self-expression of their willingness
to be identified with a group and to live cohesively with others in
order to preserve the group’s welfare and happiness (Rothschild, 2016).
Cooperatives provide mechanisms where the members could work together
and they abide with the principle of equality in order to address
communal issues and challenges that are related to their economic,
social and political aspirations. The members follow democratic form of
governance wherein they have equal voice in making decisions for
themselves and in electing officers who will work for their general
interest. Practically, every member is entitled with one vote regardless
of their capital share unlike other business entities. Essentially, they
set their collective goals in such a way that the members would feel
secured and better off in terms of economic, social and political
conditions. Relevant studies have shown that cooperatives have
contributed in improving the economic, social and political conditions
of their members. In improving the members’ social conditions,
cooperatives have been providing provided education and trainings
(Oczkowski, et al., 2013) and they create opportunities to participate
in meetings and they can eventually become officers. In improving
economic conditions, cooperatives contributed in providing jobs,
generating income, quality of food and services, and in enhancing weak
members’ individual capacities (Lecoutere, 2017). They also promoted
better economic decision-making of the members and provided
opportunities for equitable growth in wealth through the members’
patronage and cooperation (Altman, 2015). In improving political
conditions, cooperatives acted as polities where the members exercise
autonomy and independence in electing their officers that could
encourage better leadership and governance (Sumelius, et al., 2015).
Cooperatives depict a realistic embodiment of collectivism and their
governance structures are highly dependent on collective action (Morris,
et al., 1993). This means that their success can only be realized if the
collective would embrace collectivism as a norm and common behavior. It
requires that the members must have emotional attachment by willingly
giving up some of their resources through payment of their subscribed
shares (Mikami, 2015) and enable their cooperative to accumulate
resources. In addition, they must also participate in meaningful
activities such as patronizing the cooperative’s business, attending
general meetings, and electing officers who are in-charge to oversee the
regular affairs of the cooperative. Meanwhile, the elected officers
emanated from the members and they commit themselves to oversee the
operation of the cooperative and eventually pursue the general interest
of the collective. Operationally, the cooperative would use the
accumulated resources to pursue enterprising activities which require
the collective to patronize their products and services and elect
functioning officers (Harris, et al., 1996) who would manage the
activities. The members can also become employees, suppliers, and
customers in order to support the operation of their cooperative
(Ramanauskas, et al., 2017). This applies the theory of Triandis (2001)
on horizontal and vertical collectivism where horizontal collectivism
suggests that the members must work cohesively with their co-members and
contribute monetary interest so that they can assets that will serve as
their resource base. While vertical collectivism means that the members
must work with their elected officers so that they can reach their goals
and aspirations.
This study would shed light on the collective nature of cooperatives and
weave philosophy into the consciousness of cooperative studies.
Literatures show that there is hardly any study that attempted to weave
the cooperative operations to its philosophical origins. It further
rationalizes that cooperatives are catalysts of revolutionary ideologies
to achieve better welfare without coercion, but it leverages on
believing that people are capable of governing themselves collectively,
yet literature that deals on these are very few. Primarily, this study
utilizes the codified collective aspirations of the members found in
their vision, mission and goals (VMGs) through the trifocal aspect of
collectivism such as economic, social and political. Literatures often
portray cooperatives in a compartmentalized perspective of economic,
social and political structure. There is an observed gap between
philosophical origins and cooperative practices that combines economic,
social and political. Cooperatives are viewed as economic vehicles that
could improve quality of life, an alternative political system to
capitalism and socialism, or as a social system that aims to attain the
society’s goal. There is a dearth of literature that puts together a
holistic picture of cooperatives from its philosophical origin and the
empirical evidence of collectivism as observed in the various economic,
social and political aspect of cooperativism as a way of life of their
members.
In general, the members’ collective goals and aspirations are embedded
in the cooperatives’ vision, mission and goals (VMGs) in order to
communicate and set direction to all the members and elected officers.
The vision represents the organization’s direction while the mission
justifies their existence (Altiok, 2011). The goals are time-framed
measurable indicators the organization intends to achieve. The VMGs can
be interpreted beyond its simplistic literary form that it can actually
reflect the ex-post behaviors of the members and elected officers.
Essentially, these are codified aspirations and they were derived from
several general assembly meetings wherein the members have participated
and expressed their thoughts and emotions. These are guidelines for the
cooperative in case of creating policies and decision making for their
operation. In fact, the cooperatives’ successes are measured in terms of
how far these VMGs were attained and translated into the cooperatives’
operation (Puusa, et al., 2006).
The study focused on cooperatives in the Philippines. There are very
limited researches about cooperatives in the country but they are
contributing in the economic, social and political aspects of the
country. They are in fact regarded as important institutions that can
contribute to the Vision 2040 of the Philippines which encourages the
cooperative sector to play critical role in: a) rapid, inclusive and
sustained economic growth, b) financial inclusion, and c) reduction of
poverty (RA 9520; NEDA, 2017). On the report of Castillo and Castillo
(2017), cooperatives in the Philippines have manifested their capacity
to contribute in terms of: eradication of poverty and hunger; decent
work and economic growth; responsive production and consumption; reduced
inequalities; climate action; peace, justice and strong institutions;
and gender equality in which cooperatives contribute to the country’s
GDP equivalent to an average of 3.12% and average per capita
contribution of 3,574.45 (in Philippine Peso) per coop members in a
month. As reported by the Cooperative Development Authority (CDA)
(2020), there are around 18,848 cooperatives registered in the
Philippines with membership of 11.5 million individuals and aggregated
asset base of 572.5 billion (in Philippine peso). Thus, it is worthwhile
to contribute to the development of cooperatives by presenting the
relevance of collectivism in cooperatives.
The objective of this study is to:
- Write a literature review on the connection of collectivism as a
philosophy in the study of cooperatives through the lens of social,
economic and political;
- Weave through the social, economic and political dimensions of
collectivism as it is empirically established in the context of
cooperatives;
- Empirically establish the application of collectivism in the VMGs of
cooperatives in which the VMGs were utilized as units of analysis
because these are relevant evidences of collective actions that
emanated from the members’ participation and behavioral expressions;
and
- Provide a continuous fulcrum that weaves philosophy into the
consciousness of cooperative studies especially in the Philippine
setting.