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DIMENSIONS OF MEMBER HETEROGENEITY IN COOPERATIVES AND THEIR IMPACT ON ORGANIZATION – A LITERATURE REVIEW
Author(s) -
HÖHLER Julia,
KÜHL Rainer
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
annals of public and cooperative economics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.526
H-Index - 37
eISSN - 1467-8292
pISSN - 1370-4788
DOI - 10.1111/apce.12177
Subject(s) - disadvantage , member states , family member , business , focus (optics) , order (exchange) , political science , international trade , european union , medicine , physics , optics , family medicine , finance , law
Member heterogeneity is often seen as a disadvantage of cooperatives. Though, a comprehensive understanding of member heterogeneity, its dimensions and impacts on member interests, organizations and their performance is still missing. The following literature review is intended to summarize the existing literature on member heterogeneity with a focus on agricultural cooperatives in order to provide further areas of research. Different dimensions of heterogeneity are identified and ways of measuring their impact on cooperative organization are proposed.