Motivations of Member Participation in Farmer Professional Cooperatives in Rural China: A Focusing on Chinese Characteristics

摘要

Farmer professional cooperatives play a leading role in the development of rural China. However, Chinese cooperatives are founded according to peculiar interpretation of cooperative rule rather than the principle that International Cooperative Alliance（ICA） presented. For example, the owners of food processing firms mainly invest share capital, organize farmer professional cooperatives, and become directors of that cooperative. The motivations for farmer member participation differs from the motivation for member participation in general cooperative cases, reflecting this unique situation. Participation motivations are characterized by vertical integration, shift in entrepreneur function, and human relationships. These characteristics can be analyzed using the following concepts related to transaction cost: relationship specificity, shifts in competencies, and Chinese human relationships or“ guanxi”. The multivariate analysis of marketing research is appropriate to quantitatively analyze the participation motivations based on these concepts. We interviewed farmer members of Hunan Province farmer professional cooperatives in 2003 by using originally developed items, measures, and constructs. We first tested the validity and reliability of constructs based on confirmatory factor analysis and then derived the reliable independent and dependent variables. We tested and proved the following hypotheses by multiple regression, simple slope analysis, and covariance structure analysis for the derived variables:（1） Although farmers and cooperatives are related specifically, the extent of participation is not influenced by this relationship, （2） The level of competence in the cooperative determines the extent of participation, （3） The stronger the “guanxi” effect, the greater the extent of participation, （4）“ Guanxi” is required to support cooperative competency.