The Determinants of Cooperative Sustainable Development: A Case Study of Malaysian Cooperatives

Abstract

Sustainability has become one of the strategic essential in the 4th industrial revolution era. Most cooperatives strive to endure a sustainable development on economic, organizational, social, and environmental. In today’s competitive market environment, for cooperatives to achieve sustainability, many of them rely on business sustainability models to highlight the logic behind cooperative value creation and its potential impact. There are previous studies that explored the continuous development of cooperatives from various perspectives. However, only a small portion of information is known about factors influencing cooperatives’ sustainable development, especially in Malaysia. Therefore, this study aims to address this gap by exploring this phenomenon. For the methodology approach, a set of three different case studies were conducted through protocol discussion with Malaysian cooperatives across various sectors. This was done to learn more about the topic, enhance the research questions, and expand the ideas. The findings of the qualitative investigation revealed several determinants, which led to the following themes: (i) members’ participation; (ii) governance management; (iii) business strategy; (iv) resource management; and (v) leadership. The qualitative methods used yielded rich information that will guide future research. In brief, this study contributes to the existing literatures in cooperative and sustainable development knowledge and will benefit future research.