measuring member commitment and its determinants in a

Measuring Member Commitment and its Determinants Insights from Cooperative and Marketing Literature and an

Evaluation of the NCR Questionnaire

MSc Thesis

Nicole Sloot 900222768120

MSc Management, Economics and Consumer Studies Specialization: Management

MST-80433

ECTS: 33

First Academic Supervisor: Jos Bijman Second Academic Supervisor: Frans Verhees

Disclaimer: This report is produced by a student of Wageningen University as part of her MSc-programme. It is not an official

publication of Wageningen University or Wageningen UR and the content herein does not represent any formal position or

representation by Wageningen University or Wageningen UR.

2

Abstract

Cooperatives are looking for ways to strengthen commitment amongst their members. To get more

insight into this matter, research is carried out in practice to identify the level of member

commitment and its factors of influence. Scientific literature on theories that seek to explain

commitment and its determinants is plentiful and so is academic research on measuring commitment

in different contexts. However, a complete overview of the different measurement methods of

member commitment and its determinants is not on hand.

A literature study was performed to identify and summarize the wide range of options for measuring

member commitment and its determinants. It resulted in a proposed list of six different aspects of

member commitment, which emerge from three underlying motives: a member’s level of loyalty,

identification and effort towards the cooperative. From the different questionnaires that had been

studied, the sample items that were used to measure commitment had been collected and

summarized accordingly.

The determinants of member commitment had also been studied through a literature review, which

resulted in a proposed categorization of eight different factors which can be labelled as economic

benefits, availability of alternatives, cooperative and member characteristics, trust, communication,

participation in the governance of a cooperative and control and standards imposed by the

cooperative. Also, a summary of sample items to measure each factor of commitment is presented.

In the field of marketing, literature on the measurement of customer loyalty was reviewed. It

was reviewed because of its hypothesized parallels with the concept of member commitment and to

verify its added value to the measurement of member commitment. Customer loyalty and member

commitment showed strong similarities in how it was measured. By contrast, the determinants of

customer loyalty showed elements that had not been identified in the literature on measuring

determinants of member commitment, such as customer value, service support and customer

satisfaction.

The results from the literature review suggest that future research could look more into other

marketing concepts in relation to member commitment, such as relationship commitment, brand

loyalty or trust. Motivations behind member commitment among members and opinions of

cooperatives on this matter could be investigated further to see whether motivations and the level

of commitment change per type of cooperative.

Recommendations for practice are formulated for the research programme of NCR (Nationale

Coöperatieve Raad) based on the benchmark of the results to their current questionnaire on

meausuring member commitment among cooperatives.

Key words: Member commitment, commitment, cooperatives, measurement, customer loyalty

4

Executive Summary

According to the International Co-operative Alliance (ICA), the members of a cooperative can be seen

as the controllers and owners of the company. Membership is voluntary and it can serve as an

instrument to achieve a certain goal, such as getting a better price for your product. Member

commitment is important to the success of cooperatives on a long-term, because it is stated that

members with a high level of commitment tend to be better at understanding and supporting the

changes a cooperative wants or needs to make in the future. This is one of the reasons why

cooperatives are looking for ways to strengthen commitment amongst their members. Research

needs to be executed to obtain key information about commitment and its determinants, using

appropriate measurements and sample items. Data on member commitment to cooperatives is

collected by NCR (Nationale Cooperatieve Raad), the Dutch council for cooperatives.

This thesis examines how member commitment and its determinants can be measured in a

cooperative context, by looking at the concept from different contextual perspectives. In the field of

marketing, literature on the measurement of customer loyalty was reviewed because of its

hypothesized parallels with member commitment.

The literature review resulted in a proposed list of six different aspects of member commitment,

which emerge from three underlying motives: a member’s level of loyalty, identification and effort

towards the cooperative. From the different questionnaires that have been studied, the sample

items that were used to measure commitment had been collected and summarized accordingly.

The factors that influence member commitment had also been studied through a literature review,

which resulted in a proposed categorization of eight different factors. Measurement options for

factors that influence member commitment are included in the documentation of this research.

In the field of marketing, literature on the measurement of customer loyalty was reviewed. It was

reviewed because of its hypothesized parallels with the concept of member commitment and to

verify its added value to the measurement of member commitment. Customer loyalty and member

commitment showed strong similarities in how it was measured. By contrast, the determinants of

customer loyalty showed elements that had not been identified in the literature on measuring

determinants of member commitment, such as customer value, service support and customer

satisfaction.

Aspects of Member Commitment

I Loyalty

Self-Assessment

II Loyalty

Alternatives

III Loyalty

Beliefs

IV Identification

Personal Feelings

V Identification

Involvement

VI Effort

Investing Resources

Determinants

1. Economic Benefits

2. Alternatives available for Members

3. Cooperative’s characteristics

4. Member Characteristics

5. Trust and Trustworthiness

6. Communication between Members and Cooperative

7. Member’s Participation in Cooperative’s Governance

8. Control and Standards by Cooperative

5

The results from the literature review have been benchmarked with the questionnaire that the Dutch

council for cooperatives, NCR (Nationale Coöperatieve Raad), uses to measure member commitment.

A comparison of the questionnaire with the results of the literature review led to a couple of main

conclusions.

With regards to the measurement of member commitment NCR uses four types of commitment,

whereas the findings from the literature are categorized into six different categories.

Moreover, only two items in the questionnaire are related to a factor that influences member

commitment, which means that the focus in the questionnaire is merely on member commitment,

rather than on its determinants.

The results of the literature review on measurement of customer loyalty were also benchmarked

with the questionnaire of NCR. Items related to customer satisfaction, the relationship between two

parties, quality of service support and customer value were not found in the NCR questionnaire.

The results and conclusions of this research project indicated directions for future research. It is

suggested that future research could look more into the concepts of relationship commitment, brand

loyalty or trust in relation to member commitment. Another suggestion is to perform a case study to

investigate best practices related to the measurement of member commitment, to get more insight

into the motivations behind various measurement practices. From a marketing perspective, the

Theory of Planned Behaviour of Ajzen & Fishbein (1980) was investigated, but operationalizing the

framework in the context of this research project was challenging. Nevertheless, the model offers

interesting clues on which future research could be executed. Finally, NCR makes a distinction

between income dependent and service providing cooperatives in its research programme. Future

research could be executed to scientifically validate this distinction by verifying whether this

classification can be confirmed through for example a literature study.

Based on the benchmark of the literature review to the NCR questionnaire, recommendations for

practice are formulated for the research programme of NCR (Nationale Coöperatieve Raad).

NCR is advised to:

Define and specify the objective of the research programme and questionnaire

Decide on which aspects of member commitment it wants to measure

Measure each aspect of member commitment on its own, instead of adding up the

outcomes of different aspects

Include items in the questionnaire that also measure the factors that influence member

commitment

Set out the questionnaire in the context of a longitudinal study

Choose a valid and reliable sampling method

6

Table of Contents Abstract ............................................................................................................................................. 2

Executive Summary ........................................................................................................................... 4

Chapter 1: Introduction .................................................................................................................... 8

1.1 Cooperatives and the Role of Members ................................................................................. 8

1.2 Problem Statement ................................................................................................................. 8

1.3 Research Objective ................................................................................................................. 9

1.4 Research Questions .............................................................................................................. 10

1.5 Research Framework ............................................................................................................ 11

1.6 Methodology and Data Collection ........................................................................................ 11

1.7 Report Structure ................................................................................................................... 13

Chapter 2: Theoretical Framework ................................................................................................. 14

2.1 Contexts of Commitment ...................................................................................................... 14

2.1.1 Commitment in Marketing Relationships ...................................................................... 14

2.1.2 Member Commitment to Cooperatives ........................................................................ 14

2.1.3 Organizational Commitment.......................................................................................... 15

2.1.4 Commitment to Associations ......................................................................................... 15

2.2 Determinants of Commitment .............................................................................................. 15





Chapter 3: Measuring Member Commitment ................................................................................ 18

3.1 Measuring Member Commitment ........................................................................................ 18





3.2 Conclusion ............................................................................................................................. 25

3.3 Discussion ............................................................................................................................. 29

Chapter 4: Measuring the Determinants of Commitment ............................................................. 30

4.1 Determinants of Commitment and Measurement Methods ............................................... 30

4.1.1 Determinants of Commitment in Marketing Relationships ........................................... 30

4.1.2 Determinants of Member Commitment to Cooperatives ............................................. 33

4.1.3 Determinants of Organizational Commitment .............................................................. 38

4.1.4 Determinants of Commitment to Associations ............................................................. 39

4.2 Conclusion ............................................................................................................................. 40

4.3 Discussion ............................................................................................................................. 41

7

Chapter 5: The Marketing Perspective: Customer Loyalty ............................................................. 43

5.1 Customer Loyalty .................................................................................................................. 43

5.1.1 Measuring Customer Loyalty ......................................................................................... 45

5.1.2 Conclusion ...................................................................................................................... 46

5.2 Determinants of Customer Loyalty ....................................................................................... 47

5.2.1 Measuring Determinants of Customer Loyalty .............................................................. 47

5.2.2 Conclusion ...................................................................................................................... 51

5.3 Discussion ............................................................................................................................. 52

Chapter 6: Reflection of Findings on Method NCR ......................................................................... 55

6.1 The Research Programme of NCR on Member Commitment .............................................. 55

6.2 Questionnaire Phase 2: Member Commitment to Cooperatives ......................................... 56

6.3 Review Questionnaire NCR ................................................................................................... 59

6.3.1 The Questionnaire compared to results of Chapter 3 ................................................... 59

6.3.2 The Questionnaire compared to results of Chapter 4 .................................................. 60

6.3.3 The Questionnaire compared to results of Chapter 5 .................................................. 60

6.4 Discussion ............................................................................................................................. 60

Chapter 7: Conclusion and Discussion ............................................................................................ 63

7.1 Conclusion ......................................................................................................................... 63

7.2 Suggestions for Future Research .......................................................................................... 64

7.3 Discussion ............................................................................................................................. 64

Chapter 8: Practical Recommendations ......................................................................................... 67

8.1 Practical Recommendations ................................................................................................. 67

Reference List ................................................................................................................................. 69

8

Chapter 1: Introduction

This chapter starts with a short introduction to the context of research, followed by the problem

statement in Section 1.2. Subsequently, the research objective and the research questions are

presented in Section 1.3 and 1.4. Then, the research framework is shown in Section 1.5, to show the

steps that need to be taken to execute the project. This is followed by the methodological approach of

the investigation, including the approach per sub question. At the end of the chapter, the structure of

the rest of the report is explained.

1.1 Cooperatives and the Role of Members

Although Zeuli & Cropp (2004) point out that cooperatives have been founded in countries such as

Egypt and Greece in ancient times already, the most well-known form of a cooperative in the modern

time dates back to England in the nineteenth century. Back then, members formed the foundation

and core of the enterprise. In the twenty-first century, the basic purpose of the cooperative has not

disappeared and members remain an essential part of the organization (Zeuli & Cropp, 2004).

Van der Sangen (1999) states that the first cooperative in the Dutch context has been established in

1877, whereas the source of this kind of enterprise can be found in England and France. There are

two so-called fathers of the cooperative, named Robert Owen and Charles Fourier. They were the

first ones we know that have formulated cooperative principles. In these principles, it is mentioned

that members of a cooperative form a union and connect to each other voluntarily. Every member

should meet a certain set of preconditions and the cooperative is led democratically.

According to the International Co-operative Alliance (ICA), all cooperative’s members can be seen as

the controllers and owners of the company. Membership is voluntary and it can serve as a helpful

instrument to achieve a certain goal, such as obtaining better prices for a product. When reviewing

the cooperative principles of ICA, the strong emphasis on member engagement becomes clear

immediately. Some of the principles are referring to democracy and transparency, whereas other

principles indicate the financial connection of members to the cooperative.

International Co-operative Alliance (ICA) gives the following definition of a cooperative:

‘A co-operative is an autonomous association of persons united voluntarily to meet their common

economic, social, and cultural needs and aspirations through a jointly owned and democratically-

controlled enterprise.’ (ICA, 2015)

1.2 Problem Statement

Member commitment is a matter of great importance; according to Fulton (1999), it is the glue that

helps to maintain business volume and membership. Trechter et al. (2002) state that member

commitment is of high importance to the long-term success of cooperatives, because members with

a high level of commitment tend to be better at understanding and supporting the changes a

cooperative wants or needs to make.

As member commitment vital to a cooperative on many aspects, cooperatives are looking for ways to

strengthen it. Strengthening member commitment means that the cooperative needs information on

the level of commitment. This can be achieved through measuring member commitment and its

9

determinants. Only with the right information from its members, cooperatives can effectively impose

actions to influence commitment. A questionnaire is a common measurement instrument to gain

information on member commitment.

One organization that uses a questionnaire to measure member commitment to cooperatives, is NCR

(Nationale Coöperatieve Raad). It is the Dutch center of expertise for cooperatives, where

information and knowledge is shared and collected. In order to provide cooperatives with more

insight into the commitment amongst their members, NCR has designed a questionnaire to measure

member commitment. The challenge of designing and implementing a questionnaire is that the

measurement instrument needs to collect the right data. The instrument should be designed

properly, aimed at providing the organization with information which enables it to effectively

influence member commitment.

Other than the literature on commitment in different contexts, the marketing literature also

provides concepts that can be linked to member commitment. Among these concepts are trust,

relationship commitment and customer loyalty. A person can have a positive attitude towards a

company, which might result in some kind of positive behavior towards that company. The strength

of the relationship between attitude and behavior is explained by loyalty, which is influenced by

social norms and the situational context (Dick and Basu, 1994). The measurement methods of the

customer loyalty in the marketing literature are discussed to find out whether they can provide

insights into the findings from the literature on commitment.

1.3 Research Objective

This research project is focused on reviewing and analyzing literature that describes the

measurement methods of member commitment and its determinants. As mentioned in Section 1.2,

several concepts from the marketing literature can be linked to the concept of commitment. This

investigation seizes the opportunity to learn from the marketing literature, by reviewing concepts

related or similar to member commitment. Moreover, the measurement of these concepts is

studied.

This is scientifically relevant and interesting, because mostly social-psychological constructs are used

in the marketing literature. Insights from a marketing perspective might be helpful to better

understand commitment and its antecedents.

From a practical perspective, marketing concepts are interesting because the members of a

cooperatives are often in a business-to-business relationship. In some cases, members are in a

business-to-consumer relationship with the cooperative. In the marketing literature, both types of

relationships are discussed.

The topics that will be researched, can be formulated into a threefold goal:

1. Getting an insight into the measurement of commitment.

2. Getting to know how factors that influence commitment are measured.

3. Reviewing related marketing concepts and its measurement method. Thereafter, exploring

whether these concepts can be used for measuring commitment.

10

There are two other objectives, which are:

4. Using the outcomes of objectives 1, 2 and 3 for a benchmark with the current measurement

instrument for member commitment of NCR.

5. Formulating suggestions for scientific research and recommendations for practical use. The

practical recommendations will be formulated for the measurement instrument of NCR.

These goals are translated into research questions, which are presented in the next section. Section

1.5 of this chapter provides a research framework, which is used to demonstrate how the project will

be carried out and what the sequence of activities will be.

1.4 Research Questions

The research objectives as discussed in the previous section, can only be reached if useful

information is collected. The information should be gathered in a systematic way. Therefore,

research questions are formulated; the questions that will be answered in this document. The

ultimate goal is to answer the Main Research Question (MRQ), which resembles the objective of the

investigation. The Main Research Question is formulated as follows:

MRQ: How can member commitment and factors that influence member commitment to

cooperatives be measured, learning from measuring commitment in other contexts and concepts in

the marketing literature?

To answer the main research question, sub questions are formulated. This enables answering the

MRQ step by step. The sub questions are formulated in the same sequence of subjects as presented

the main research question, following the five objectives of this research project.

1. Measuring commitment: SQ1: How is commitment currently measured in different contexts?

2. Measuring factors influencing commitment:

SQ2: How are factors measured that have an influence on commitment?

3. Learning from marketing concepts: SQ3: Which concepts from the marketing literature show similarities to member commitment and can be useful to understand it?

SSQ4: How are these concepts measured in the marketing literature? SQ5: What are the antecedents of the marketing concepts that show similar to member commitment?

SSQ6: How these antecedents of marketing concepts measured in the marketing literature?

4. Application of outcomes to current measurement of member commitment (NCR database):

SQ7: What is the result of applying findings from the marketing and commitment literature to the measurement instrument of NCR?

11

5. Giving final suggestions and recommendations for scientific research and practice: SQ8: Which recommendations can be given to the NCR, regarding their methods and instruments for measuring member commitment? SQ9: Which suggestions can be given for future research on measuring member commitment and its factors of influence?

1.5 Research Framework

The research framework is shown in Figure 1. It presents the steps that need to be taken in this

project to achieve the research objective. The framework visualizes schematically what should be

done in order to answer each sub question. The first part of the research project is the literature

review that needs to be carried out. In Figure 1, step 1 – 8 are depicted as part of reviewing theories

on different concepts. Then, the findings are put together and a synthesis of the different concepts is

created. Based on the results of the literature study, the outcomes will be applied to practice by

doing a statistical data analysis, using data of the most recent project related to member

commitment of NCR. The findings will also be used to review the measurement method used by NCR.

From both the theoretical and practical part of the project, an analysis will be made. This will be

followed by a discussion and recommendations.

1.6 Methodology and Data Collection

In this section, the methodology and the approach of every step in the research framework is

discussed. Whereas the first six sub questions will be approached through a literature review,

secondary sources are used to answer the seventh sub question. This means that empirical data

produced by others is used, analysed and interpreted. The measurement instrument and methods of

NCR are reviewed, based on insights gained from the literature study.

Figure 1: Research Framework

12

In scientific research, there are many different information sources to choose from and it is

important to consider the various possibilities before starting with the execution of the investigation.

A structured design of the research project is needed before information can be collected and

bundled, because it should be clear what kind of information is vital in giving a clear and complete

answer to the research questions (De Vaus, 2001).

The main sources of information for this research project are scientific publications, which are

derived from databases Web of Science or Scopus. Documents of NCR can be used to get more

information on the measurement instrument of NCR. Background information on the methods used

in the questionnaire is available. The sub questions are grouped to discuss the methods of data

collection and analysis.

- Sub question 1 and 2

For sub question 1 until 6, scientific literature is used as a source of information. Some documents

might be useful as well, but the aim is to collect as much insights from scientific publications as

possible, preferably from high quality peer-reviewed articles. These are found and consulted through

Scopus and Web of Science. Literature is accessed mainly through three different search methods:

- Key words (i.e. ‘member commitment’, ‘commitment’ ‘cooperatives’, ‘measurement’,

‘instruments’, ‘factors’; etc.)

- Abstracts or extracts to get a first impression of the content of an article

- The snowball principle; one or more high quality publications are selected. The reference

lists of these articles is used to find other related articles that have been cited by the author

of the consulted article.

To gather information for sub question 1 and 2, articles about commitment in different contexts are

scanned to find out how commitment is measured. For example, researchers who published an

article on member commitment to cooperatives, present sample items or statements through which

they measure commitment. These measurement methods are collected. Subsequently, the sample

items and statements are listed together with the rating scale and its corresponding anchors, e.g.

Likert scale with five points, anchored very unimportant – very important. The information is

categorized by using the four contexts of commitment that are extracted from the literature; these

contexts are presented in Chapter 2. The information gathered for sub question 1 will be presented

in an overview of the measurement methods of commitment.

For the second sub question, the factors that have an influence on member commitment are listed

per author. The factors are not categorized, to prevent the information from being interpreted to

soon. Also for the factors, only the measurement method and the rating scale is reported. Theories

on the influence or relationship of certain factors on member commitment is not presented. In the

concluding section of sub question 2, the factors and how they are measured are listed and

categorized.

- Sub question 3 to 6

These four sub questions are related to the marketing component of the investigation. Marketing

concepts related to commitment are collected. The concepts are accompanied by an explanation on

how they are related to commitment and for what reason these concepts can be linked. Then, the

measurement methods of these concepts (SQ4) are discussed in the same way as described for sub

13

question 1 and 2. The determinants of the marketing concepts that show parallels to commitment,

are listed to give an answer to sub question 5. Eventually, the measurement methods of these

concepts are discussed to provide an answer to the last sub question.

- Sub question 7

For the seventh sub question, a combination of documents, scientific publications and data is used to

come to the answer. Findings from the literature review will be used to reflect on the questionnaire

that has been used by NCR. Documents related to their current questionnaire will be used to

understand the measurement instrument and its content.

- Sub question 8 and 9

Review and reflection of the measurement instrument and database from NCR, together with

findings from the literature review, enable the formulation of final recommendations for practical

purposes and suggestions for further scientific research. The recommendations are meant to

construct a practical advice for the measurement instrument of NCR and to indicate whether it can

be altered or strengthened.

1.7 Report Structure

This report consists of eight chapters; after this introductive chapter, the next chapter provides

information about the different contexts of commitment and its determinants that are discussed in

different fields of literature. The antecedents of In Chapter 3 elaborates on the measurement of

member commitment, whereas Chapter 4 is focused on the measurement of its determinants.

Chapter 5 discusses concepts related to member commitment from a marketing perspective,

together with its antecedents and measurement methods. This is followed by Chapter 6, where the

findings of Chapter 3,4 and 5 are reflected on the measurement method of NCR. The final conclusion

and discussion are formulated in Chapter 7. The document ends with Chapter 8, where suggestions

for future research and recommendation3.s for practice are formulated.

14

Chapter 2: Theoretical Framework

This investigation is revolving around a theoretical framework, which is presented in this chapter. The

main concepts and the relationships between them will be discussed. First, the types of commitment

that can be identified in different fields of literature are presented in Section 2.1. It discusses the

different types of member commitment and the contexts in which these types of member

commitment are mentioned. Moreover, the main determinants of member commitment will be

presented in Section 2.2. The last section will present the marketing concepts that will be addressed in

this research.

2.1 Contexts of Commitment

There is a modest amount of literature that addresses member commitment in a cooperative

context. However, literature on commitment in other contexts is plentiful; in total a distinction can

be made between three additional contexts of commitment. Next to the cooperative context, each

of these three will be discussed in the following sections. The structure of these sections will alsobe

applied in Chapter 3, where the measurement of commitment is discussed.

2.1.1 Commitment in Marketing Relationships

Ball et al. (2004) discuss commitment in relationship marketing, which is also referred to as buyer-

seller relationships. A distinction is made between business-to-business and business-to-consumer

relationships. There are several differences between both perspectives. In general, consumers are

buyers who are much less dependent on the sellers of products than business customers. Moreover,

switching between products or sellers is easier for consumers than for businesses; the purchasing

volumes are mostly lower and so is the monetary investment (Odekerken-Schröder, 1999).

Doucette (1997), Anderson and Weitz (1992) and Morgan and Hunt (1994) write about commitment

in buyer-seller relationships, which is described as the belief in an ongoing relationship both parties

and being convinced of its importance and value (Morgan and Hunt, 1994). The buyer-seller

relationship can also be identified at cooperatives, as members can be in a buyer-seller relationship

with their cooperative.

Loyalty is a concept from the marketing literature that is similar to commitment (Ball et al., 2004). A

distinction is made between behavioural loyalty and attitudinal loyalty. The first can be described as

a repetition of purchases with a company. Attitudinal loyalty is explained as the willingness to be

committed to the relationship (Ball et al., 2004).

2.1.2 Member Commitment to Cooperatives

In the context of cooperatives, members are stated to have multiple roles, meaning that member

commitment can be seen from multiple aspects (Dunn, 1988). Members are connected to the

cooperative by being a buyer or a seller. The role of the cooperative is dependent on the type of

relationship the members and the cooperative are in. In the literature on member commitment to

agricultural cooperatives, a common distinction is made between supply cooperatives and marketing

cooperatives (Bijman and Verhees, 2011). The NCR does not only deal with cooperatives in the agri-

15

and horticultural sector. Cooperatives operating in the retail, insurance and banking sector are

represented in their member portfolio. Therefore, this research does not distinguish between

marketing and supply cooperatives. Rather, the following types of cooperatives are used:

- Service providing; which means that the member of the cooperative can be seen as the

consumer of a service or ‘product’. The cooperative can be a health insurer, a bank, or an

energy supplier, for example.

- Income dependent; members join these cooperatives because they are financially dependent

on them. Examples of these kind of cooperatives are dairy cooperatives and other

agricultural cooperatives that are needed by farmers, to sell their product.

These two types of cooperatives have been defined by NCR in their questionnaire on member

commitment amongst cooperatives. It shows that cooperatives exist in a wide variety of sectors and

that members of a cooperative can have different relationships and connections to the cooperative.

In some cases, the members have no other option but to do business with a certain cooperative.

2.1.3 Organizational Commitment

Another field of literature describes commitment is the organizational context. Theories in the

organizational context are similar to member commitment to cooperatives, because in both cases, it

is about the individual’s connection to an organization. Commitment is studied from an

organizational perspective, focusing on commitment of employees towards the organization they

are working for. The theories try to explain and understand people’s motives and reasons for being

committed to their employer. In this context, Solinger et al. (2008) see commitment as an attitude,

whereas other scholars admit that there is a behavioural aspect to commitment as well (Meyer&

Allen, 1991). In most definitions, organizational commitment is explained as a psychological state and

a desire to remain with an organization. There are three elements that influence the level of

commitment, which can roughly be identified as opportunity costs, feelings of obligation and

affective aspects (Jiménez et al., 2010; Sharma & Irving, 2005). Commonly, organizational

commitment is divided into different types; affective, normative and continuance commitment. A

fourth type

2.1.4 Commitment to Associations

At last, commitment is described in the context of sports clubs and other associations. For some of

these organizations, members have to pay a fee (De Hart, 2005). Others can be joined without having

to contribute financially. In both situations though, membership is voluntarily. This is also one of the

differences between member commitment in this context and member commitment in the other

contexts. Members of a sports club will have different motives for being committed than employees

that work for an organization. Nonetheless, this context is closely related to member commitment to

cooperatives, because both contexts deal with the underlying motives and reasons that make and

keep people committed.

2.2 Determinants of Commitment

Throughout the different contexts that discuss commitment, scholars have defined its determinants.

These will be introduced shortly, following the same structure that was used in Section 2.1.

16


In the marketing literature, relationship commitment is an important concept, which is influenced by

various factors. One of these factors is trust; which is mostly explained with someone’s belief in the

honesty and benevolence of the other party (Ball et al., 2004). Satisfaction and communication are

two other determinants of relationship commitment that have been identified in the literature.


In the field of literature that deals with cooperatives, factors that have an influence on member

commitment are categorized as social, economic and organizational (Bijman & Verhees, 2011). Social

determinants of member commitment have been defined as a feeling towards the cooperative, such

as trust and having a connection with the cooperative. Cooperative characteristics and financial

aspects have also found to be of influence on member commitment. Other determinants are found

to have an indirect impact on member commitment. Member characteristics can be seen as one of

these, because the variables education and age often have an indirect influence on commitment. At

last, options to switching to alternatives and communication are aspects that are mentioned in

scientific research as being factors that influence member commitment.


Organizational commitment literature originally makes a distinction between three types of

commitment. A fourth type of commitment is added in the development of organizational

commitment literature. The main determinants that have been defined in this context can be split up

according to the different types of commitment. Whereas affective commitment is mostly influenced

by personal feelings and attachments towards an organization, normative commitment is mostly

associated with an obligation to remain with an organization and people’s norms and values about

being committed. Continuance commitment was divided into a calculative and imperative

components. The former type of commitment is determined through an assessment of the

investment people put into the organization compared to the benefits they gain and what they

would lose if they would leave the organization. The latter of the two is influenced by the

consideration whether the current organization is the only option to work at; if this is the case,

people are kind of dependent on the firm and have no other choice but to remain with it.


At last, the literature that discusses commitment to associations defines affective determinants,

which are related to the identification that a person experiences towards the association. Moreover,

there is an aspect of being voluntarily involved with the association, which has an impact on the

commitment of a member towards the association. Finally, the social component of an association is

stated to have an influence on the degree of member commitment.

18

Chapter 3: Measuring Member Commitment

The first goal of this investigation is to find out how member commitment has been measured, apart

from the factors that have an influence on it. Section 3.1 of this chapter is divided into four sub-

sections. Every sub-section discusses the operationalization of commitment in each of the contexts

that have been mentioned in Chapter 2. This chapter ends with a conclusion and a table with

possibilities for measuring member commitment in Section 3.2, followed by a discussion in Section

3.3.

3.1 Measuring Member Commitment

The fields where commitment can be found can be identified as commitment in marketing

relationships, member commitment to cooperatives, organizational commitment and member

commitment to sports clubs and other associations.

The structure that has been used in Chapter 2 is applied to the following sections, that explain the measurement of commitment in different contexts.


Business-to-Business (Buyer-Seller Relationships)

Business-to-Consumer


Service providing

Income dependent




In the marketing literature, the concept of commitment is often used in the context of business-to-

business and business-to-consumer relationships. Sometimes, scholars in the field of marketing use

the concept of loyalty, which shows similarities to commitment. The concept of loyalty is discussed

widely in the marketing literature; whereas commitment is characterized by the willingness to stay in

a relationship and being prepared to work for it, loyalty can be divided into behavioural and

attitudinal loyalty (Ball et al., 2004).

Whereas Ball et al. (2004) looked specifically at loyalty of bank customers, Morgan & Hunt (1994)

investigated the connection between trust and commitment in business-to-business marketing

relationships. In their article, commitment was researched in the field of relationship marketing and

consequently, it was defined as relationship commitment. Ball et al. (2004) discuss loyalty of

customers to banks; however, loyalty as such is not measured in their article. It is not clear whether

the investigated relationship of customers to the bank can be identified as a business-to-consumer or

business-to-business relationship, because it is not stated whether the respondents are private or

corporate clients of the banks.

19

A questionnaire was sent to members of the National Tire Dealers and Retreaders Association. The

items that were used to measure relationship commitment could be rated on a 7-point Likert scale,

which was anchored between 1. Strongly Agree and 7. Strongly Disagree.

‘The relationship that my firm has with my major supplier…

1. ‘..is something we are very committed to.‘

2. ‘..is something my firm intends to maintain indefinitely.’

3. ‘...deserves our firm's maximum effort to maintain.’

(Morgan & Hunt, 1994: 35)

These measures call upon member’s intentions and the willingness to put effort into the relationship.

Doucette (1997: 183) defines member commitment as ‘a long lasting confidence that positive

returns will result from continued relations with the exchange partner’. He measures member

commitment by combining items that were used by Anderson & Weitz (1992). Their investigation will

be discussed subsequently. In Doucette’s article, commitment members of group purchasing

organizations (GPO’s) were asked to rate the following items on a 5-point scale from 1. Strongly

Disagree to 5. Strongly Agree. A questionnaire was sent to independent pharmacies that had a

membership at a GPO. In this case, members are in a buyer-seller relationship with the organization.

1. ‘We expect to be using this buying group for a long time’

2. ‘Our support of suppliers contracted through this buying group is strong’

Doucette (1997: 189)

Through the first item, members of the group purchasing organization were asked about their

expectations regarding the length of the transaction relationship. The other item is focused on the

level of support the members experience by the suppliers that are contracted by the GPO.

Commitment in channel relationships is discussed in a publication by Anderson & Weitz (1992). They

define it as ‘a desire to develop a stable relationship, a willingness to make short-term sacrifices to

maintain the relationship, and a confidence in the stability of the relationship’ (Anderson & Weitz,

1992: 19). Commitment was measured for pairs of channel partners; distributors answered questions

about manufacturers, whereas manufacturers did the same for their distributors. Eleven separate

business units of five companies that were listed in the Fortune 500, took part in the questionnaire.

The items cover Anderson and Weitz’ definition of commitment. In addition, the authors have

included aspects of commitment that emerged from the interviews they held in the field. The items

cover subjects such as loyalty, the duration of the relationship, willingness to invest in it, possibility of

switching to alternatives, forgivingness and patience towards the distributor when mistakes are

made and the willingness to go the extra mile for the sake of the distributor.

Commitment was measured through the following ten items:

1. ‘We defend this distributor when others critize them’

2. ‘We have a strong sense of loyalty to this distributor’

3. ‘We are continually on the lookout for another distributor to replace or to add in this

distributor’s territory’ (R)

4. ‘We expect to be using this distributor for some time’

20

5. ‘If another distributor offered us better coverage, we would most certainly take them on,

even if it meant dropping this distributor’

6. ‘We are not very committed to this distributor’ (R)

7. ‘We are quite willing to make long-term investments in this distributor’

8. ‘Our relationship with this distributor is a long-term alliance’

9. ‘We are patient with this distributor when they make mistakes that cause us trouble;

10. ‘We are willing to dedicate whatever people and resources it takes to grow sales for this

distributor’

(Anderson & Weitz, 1992: 30)

Respondents could rate these statements on a 7-point Likert scale, ranging from 1. Strongly Disagree

to 7. Strongly Agree.


Service Providing

Within the concept of member commitment, Fulton & Adamowicz (1993) mention patronage, which

can be seen as a form of commitment as it indicates that the majority of transactions of a member is

carried out at the same cooperative. The data for their study is coming from members of the Alberta

Wheat Pool. Patronage goes a bit further than being committed. It comprises elements of loyalty,

because the term implies that a member is doing the majority of business with one cooperative. The

latter is not a prerequisite for member commitment. For that reason, the dependent variable

patronage either had a value of 1 or 0. It had a value 1 if the member delivered most of his or her

grain to the Alberta Wheat Pool in the reference year 1990.

Bijman & Verhees (2011) refer to customer commitment in supply cooperatives, where the concept

of commitment is constructed of three aspects; effort, identity and loyalty.

“Loyalty relates to that part of commitment that measures the willingness of the farmer to continue

patronizing the supplier. Identity relates to that part of commitment that measures the adherence to

the goals, norms and values of the supplier. Effort relates to that part of commitment that measures

the willingness to invest in the continuation of the relationship” (Bijman & Verhees, 2011: 8).

These aspects are measured through statements, which could be rated by respondents through a

Likert scale of 5 points, ranging from 1. Not Agree to 5. Agree:

- Loyalty was measured through items that relate to the expected duration of the relationship and

the possibility of switching to alternative suppliers:

1. “I will certainly keep my current supplier for more than 1 year”



4. “I will easily shift to another supplier” (R)

5. “I am loyal to my supplier”

Bijman & Verhees (2011:20)

The items that represented identity can be described as items that measure an attitude of members

towards the supply cooperative, the feeling that comes along with that attitude and actions that can

result from it:

21

1. “I am positive about my supplier”

2. “I recommend my supplier to my colleagues”

3. “I am proud of my supplier”

4. ”I enjoy talking about my supplier”

5. ”I agree with the norms and values of my supplier”

6. ”I am happy to be a customer of this supplier”


Effort was measured through four items, which are characterized by the willingness of members to

go the extra mile, for example by doing investments or allocating resources for the sake of the

supplier:

1. “I am willing to make adjustments on my farm in case my supplier asks me to do so”

2. ”I am willing to pay more, temporarily, if that is helps my supplier”

3. ”I am willing to put in extra effort for my supplier if that helps him”

4. ”The future of my supplier is also my concern”


Income Dependent

Cechin et al. (2012) distinguish two types of commitment. On one hand, they define commitment to

collective action, which means that a member is prepared to be committed to the cooperative by

placing the interest of the cooperative above the member’s own interest. On the other hand,

commitment to a customer-oriented strategy is discussed, which is commitments in the sense that a

member is positive about a customer-oriented strategy of the cooperative, focused on vertical

coordination in the supply chain. Cechin et al. (2012) used insights gained from the studies of Bijman

& Verhees (2011) and Borgen (2001), to compose measurement items for both dimensions of

commitment. These were formulated as follows:

Commitment to Collective Action

1. “The member of the cooperative sells to the cooperative even if another firm offers a better

price’

2. “Better price is better than relationship with the cooperative”

3. “Willingness to invest if the cooperative requires”

4. “Willingness to receive lower price temporarily”

5. “Concern with the cooperative’s future”

(Cechin et al., 2012:48

Commitment to a Customer-Oriented Strategy

1. “Perception that quality control will be increasingly important in the future”

2. “Perception that it is good to shift quality standards in accordance to customer preferences”

3. “Perception that it is good that the cooperative increasingly monitors member’s processes”

(Cechin et al., 2012:48)

A Likert scale of 5 points was used to assess the different attitudes that defined both types of

commitment, ranging from 1. Totally disagree to 5. Totally agree.

22

Trechter, King & Walsh (2002) researched whether communication influences member commitment

to the cooperative and whether different segments of members respond differently to various

communication approaches. Members of thirty-seven cooperatives in Wisconsin and Minnesota

were asked to provide the researchers with demographic information, the level of cooperative

involvement and how important they deem different information sources of cooperatives. To know

whether communication had an influence on commitment, the latter had to be measured. This was

done by asking members to self-assess their commitment. A rating scale with percentages between 0

and 100 was used.

Österberg & Nilsson (2009) measured member commitment to marketing and supply cooperatives

by asking members of various agricultural cooperatives in Sweden to rate the following statement on

a 6-Point Likert scale, anchored between 1. Strongly Agree to 6. Strongly Disagree

“If I commit myself to the cooperative‘s activities, all members’ economic situation will improve in

the long run.”

(Österberg & Nilsson, 2009: 189)

Fulton and Giannakas (2001) state that member commitment in an oligopoly of cooperatives and

investor-owned firms (IOF’s) is dependent on the quality of the cooperative. If members have the

feeling that the cooperative is able to fulfil their interest, the experienced quality will be higher and

member commitment will rise. Nilsson (2001) argues that a high level of commitment among

members is more likely to manifest itself when members have strong similarities, which is also

referred to as homogeneity. The same holds for a cooperative that is able to manage and correct the

market (Nilsson, 2001). In both articles, specific sample items for the measurement of member

commitment are not presented.


In the organizational commitment literature, Meyer & Allen (1990) first presented a distinction

between affective commitment and continuance commitment. They define this through the

following definition: ‘Employees with a strong affective commitment remain with the organization

because they want to, whereas those with strong continuance commitment remain because they

need to’ (Meyer & Allen, 1990: 710). Commitment to an organization is seen as a state of mind,

which is rather psychological of nature. When the employee’s state of mind towards the

organization is positive, there is a decreased chance that he or she will leave the organization.

This article was followed by one that discusses a third component, which is called normative

commitment (Allen & Meyer, 1990; Meyer & Allen, 1991). Whereas the affective commitment can

be linked to the intrinsic motivation of people to be committed, continuance commitment can be

explained through a certain dependency that employees experience towards an organization.

Normative commitment then represents feelings that originate from people’s norms and values,

where they feel obliged to continue working at their employer (Meyer & Allen, 1991).

To measure these three components of commitment, the authors developed three scales, each

containing eight items.

For each item, respondents could choose from answers on a 7-point scale, ranging from 1. Strongly

Disagree tot 7. Strongly Agree.

23

The items were grouped as follows:

- Affective Commitment

1. ”I would be very happy to spend the rest of my career with this organization”

2. ”I enjoy discussing my organization with people outside it”

3. ”I really feel as if this organization's problems are my own”

4. ”I think that I could easily become as attached to another organization as I am to this one”(R)

5. ”I do not feel like 'part of the family' at my organization” (R)

6. ”I do not feel 'emotionally attached' to this organization” (R)

7. ”This organization has v of personal meaning for me”

8. ”I do not feel a strong sense of belonging to my organization” (R)

(Allen & Meyer, 1990: 6-7)

The items clearly represent different forms of emotional attachment to an organization, a feeling of

pride and seeing it as a part of yourself.

- Continuance Commitment

1. ”I am not afraid of what might happen if I quit my job without having another one lined up”

(R)

2. ”It would be very hard for me to leave my organization right now, even if I wanted to”

3. ”Too much in my life would be disrupted if I decided I wanted to leave my organization now”

4. ”It wouldn't be too costly for me to leave my organization now” (R)

5. ”Right now, staying with my organization is a matter of necessity as much as desire”

6. ‘I feel that I have too few options to consider leaving this organization”

7. ”One of the few serious consequences of leaving this organization would be the scarcity of

available alternatives”

8. ”One of the major reasons I continue to work for this organization is that leaving would

require considerable personal sacrifice — another organization may not match the overall

benefits I have here”

(Allen & Meyer, 1990: 6-7)

The eight statements each address issues related to exit costs, the consequences of switching to

alternatives and the dependency of employees to the organization.

- Normative Commitment

1. ”I think that people these days move from company to company too often.”

2. ”I do not believe that a person must always be loyal to his or her organization” (R)

3. ”Jumping from organization to organization does not seem at all unethical to me” (R)

4. ”One of the major reasons I continue to work for this organization is that I believe that

loyalty is important and therefore feel a sense of moral obligation to remain”

5. ”If l got another offer for a better job elsewhere I would not feel it was right to leave my

organization.”

6. ”I was taught to believe in the value of remaining loyal to one organization”

24

7. ”Things were better in the days when people stayed with one organization for most of their

careers”

8. ”I do not think that wanting to be a 'company man' or 'company woman' is sensible

anymore” (R)

(Allen & Meyer, 1990: 6-7)

The last component of commitment that is discussed, is characterized by items that refer to the

organization being an extension of one’s personality, norms and values and the feeling of being

obliged to stay.

Solinger et al. (2008) have reviewed the three-component model of Meyer and Allen (1991). They

offer an alternative to the model by using a model of Eagly and Chaiken (1993). The latter seeks to

explain the connection between attitude and behaviour. The proposed extension of Solinger et al.

(2008) to the model of Meyer and Allen (1991) is to add three aspects of attitude. They include the

these three aspects in their definition of organizational commitment, which is stated as an attitude

employees have towards the employer, ”reflected in a combination of affect (emotional attachment,

identification), cognition (identification and internalization of its goals, norms, and values), and action

readiness (a generalized behavioral pledge to serve and enhance the organization’s interests)”

(Solinger et al., 2008: 80). To measure commitment according to this definition, it the method of

Allen and Meyer (1990) should be extended by adding aspects. (Solinger et al., 2008). They do,

however, not present possible options for the operationalization of the extended model.

Jiménez et al. (2010) and Sharma & Irving (2005) adopt the definition of Meyer and Allen (1990), but

they add a fourth component to the concept of organizational commitment. In their investigations,

continuance commitment is replaced by calculative commitment and imperative commitment is

added as a fourth component. When people have the perception that staying with one particular

organization is the only option they have, it is defined as imperative commitment. However, when

there are other options available, but the costs involved at exiting or switching to another

organization are high, staying with the organization based on this kind of reasoning is seen as a form

of calculative commitment. In both articles, it is not shown how these types of commitment are

measured.


Schlesinger & Nagel (2013) analyse commitment of members of sports clubs in Switzerland. People’s

positive attitude towards staying a member at a sports club, is define by the authors as member

commitment. A questionnaire was spread amongst 45 sports clubs, varying in type, size and sport

type. Commitment was operationalized through a statement that asked members for their thoughts

about the continuation of their membership at the sports club. The following sample item was used

to measure member commitment:

‘Have you recently thought about terminating the membership at your association?’

(Schlesinger & Nagel, 2013: 95)

This statement could be rated through a 5-point Likert scale, anchored between 1. No and 5. Yes,

Frequently.

25

3.2 Conclusion

The sample items that have been used by scholars to measure commitment in different contexts, are

shown in a table in Appendix 1. In this appendix, the items are presented according to the same

structure that has been used in this chapter; per context of commitment. It appeared that,

throughout the different contexts, most scholars want to measure the same kind of topics when it

comes to commitment. Table 1 was created as a hypothesized categorization of how member

commitment can be classified into different aspects, by taking the sample items from all reviewed

investigations. The categorization has been made according to the kind of topics that were examined

through the items. Table 1 is constructed according to a way of reasoning following a number of

criteria; these are discussed for every category.

Category I: Loyalty, Self-Assessment

The first category consists of sample items that were used by scholars to measure commitment

through respondent’s rating of their commitment through self-assessment. The items were placed

into this category based on whether they contained the words ‘loyalty’, ‘loyal’, ‘committed’ or

‘commitment’. Moreover, the items had to be formulated in such a way that the outcomes represent

whether the respondents are committed to a cooperative, or the level of their commitment to a

cooperative. One item does not contain one of the keywords that have been mentioned before, but

it does resemble the level of commitment according to the definition of Schlesinger & Nagel (2013).

Plenty of other scholars have used self-assessment items to measure the level of commitment, such

as Anderson & Weitz (1992), Morgan & Hunt (1994), Fulton & Adamowicz (1993), Bijman & Verhees

(2011), and Trechter, King & Walsh (2002).

Category II: Loyalty, Alternatives

The second category shows sample items that represent people’s tendency of switching to

alternative options and their attitude towards alternatives. The items have been categorized by

scanning the sample items on keywords such as: ‘alternative(s)’, ‘(an)other’, ‘replacing’,

‘replacement’. What is most important to consider, is that people are asked for what they would do

or will do if an alternative arises and whether they think of alternative options.

Bijman & Verhees (2011) state that member commitment is defined as a person’s willingness to stay

with a cooperative. The attractiveness of alternatives is one of the aspects that plays a role in this

willingness to stay. Whereas the sample items in category 1 measure commitment in a direct way,

the items in category 2 show an indirect way to measure commitment.

Category III: Loyalty, Beliefs

Other items that measure commitment indirectly are people’s beliefs and perceptions about

commitment. The selected items contain statements about beliefs that people have about being

loyal or committed to an organization. This can be an organization in any of the four contexts where

commitment is discussed. These beliefs are closely related to their norms and values and form an

aspect of being committed. In one of the sample items, alternative options are mentioned. For this

reason, the item could have been included in category 2. Whereas the items in category 2 measure

the actual behaviour in case of an alternative option, the item in category 3 reflects a person’s belief

or attitude towards switching to an alternative option. The main criterion for this category was that

the items should relate to people’s beliefs and attitudes, rather than their actual behaviour. This so-

26

called normative aspect of commitment originates from the organizational commitment literature. It

is explained as ”a feeling of obligation to remain with an organization” (Meyer & Allen, 1991: 67).

Category IV: Identification, Personal Feelings

This category reflects people’s personal feelings towards and about the organization. Whereas the

previous category contained items about people’s beliefs and perceptions regarding commitment to

organizations in general, this fourth category focuses on the feelings of an individual towards a

particular organization. The items are designed to measure the level of emotional connection the

respondents have with a specific organization. For this category, the sample items have been

collected based on whether they contained words that express feelings or a direct emotional

connection with the organization. Some of the items refer to personal feelings of emotional

attachment, whereas others represent behaviour that can be linked to someone’s positive

connection towards an organization.

Category V: Identification, Involvement

Other than the emotional attachment people can experience, involvement is another type of

identification with the organization. It can be seen as a kind of relationship between two people. The

items measure the level of people’s willingness to forgive the other party when problems occur.

Involvement goes a step further than the items of category 4, because involvement goes beyond

positive feelings and their expression. It is about personal involvement with the future of the

organization and being part of the business. This category includes items that say something about

the degree to which people are involved with organizational affairs and the future of the company.

Category VI: Effort, Investing resources

The last category is about investment of resources, which is another aspect of commitment. It says

something about people’s willingness to make, for example, monetary investments for the

organization. Scholars such as Anderson & Weitz (1992) and Bijman & Verhees (2011) present this as

a willingness to invest in the relationship to the organization. Sample items that refer to investing

money and other resources, the willingness to change and make financial sacrifices, were included in

this category.

In total, there are six categories of sample items, which are given three different labels: loyalty,

identification and effort. The labels were attached to the categories after they had been constructed.

The names of the labels were adopted from an paper by Bijman & Verhees (2011). They mention

three aspects of commitment, which are loyalty, identity and effort. Table 1. resembles the

measurement of commitment. Commitment can be approached from different aspects; this becomes

clear through the wide variety of sample items and the kind of subject they measure. Bijman &

Verhees (2011) distinguish three different aspects that appeared to be a good fit for the

categorization of sample items.

Loyalty is explained as the willingness to patronize the organization; either in a very straightforward

way, in the case of available alternatives or the willingness that arises from someone’s beliefs about

being loyal.

27

Whereas the term identity is used to explain the aspect of commitment that ”measures the

adherence to the goals, norms and values of the supplier” (Bijman & Verhees, 2011: 8), this term was

changed to identification in Table 1. The meaning of the word identity is as follows:

'Who or what a person or thing is’ or ‘the sameness of a person or thing at all times or in all

circumstances’. 1

Identification was found more appropriate, because this is defined as:

‘The state of being or feeling oneself to be closely associated with a person, group, etc., in emotions,

interests, or actions’ 2

Whereas ‘identity’ focuses on an individual and is rather factual of nature, the term ‘identification’

says something about a person, while at the same time including the association of this person with

another party. In the context of commitment, identification was deemed as a more suitable

alternative to identity. It covers the essence of what is measured through the items much more

adequately.

Finally, effort relates ‘to that part of commitment that measures the willingness to invest in the

continuation of the relationship’ (Bijman & Verhees, 2011: 8). The last category is defined through

effort in terms of willingness to invest resources and make sacrifices for the sake of the other party.

Although this might seem as a one-way transaction, these investments and sacrifices are made while

having in mind that these will pay off eventually. This way, it is seen as an investment in the

relationship between two parties.

1 Oxford English Dictionary. The Definitive Record of the English Language

http://www.oed.com/view/Entry/91004?redirectedFrom=identity#eid, retrieved: 4-4-2016 2 Oxford English Dictionary. The Definitive Record of the English Language

http://www.oed.com/view/Entry/90995?redirectedFrom=identification#eid,retrieved: 4-4-2016

http://www.oed.com/view/Entry/91004?redirectedFrom=identity#eid

http://www.oed.com/view/Entry/90995?redirectedFrom=identification#eid

28

Table 1: Sample Item Categories Measuring Member Commitment

Items Category

- I am loyal to the supplier

- I am very committed to relationship

- I have strong feelings of loyalty

- I am not very committed (R)

- Rate your level of commitment

- Considered terminating membership (yes/no)

I Loyalty

Self-Assessment

- Will easily shift to another supplier

- If there is a better alternative switch

- Continually on lookout for replacement

- I could easily get attached to another organization

- I would sell to this cooperative, also when the price is better anywhere else

II Loyalty

Alternatives

- Switching jobs seems unethical - I have a sense of moral obligation to stay because of loyal feelings - People move company too often - People should be loyal to organization - In case of an alternative offer; it would not feel right to leave

III Loyalty

Beliefs

- Positive about supplier - Proud of - Happy to be a customer - Feels like family - Emotional attachment - Personal meaning - Sense of belonging - Agree with norms & values of other party - Recommend to colleagues - Defend when criticized - Enjoy talking about - Enjoy discussing about - Support of supplier is strong

IV Identification

Personal Feelings

- Supplier’s future is also my concern - Their problems are my problems - Concern with cooperative’s future - Other party deserves our maximum effort to maintain - Patient when other makes mistakes that cause you trouble

V Identification

Involvement

Willingness to: - Make adjustments on farm - Pay more, temporarily, if that helps supplier - Put in extra effort if that helps supplier - Make long-term investments - Dedicate people & resources for sake of other party - Invest if cooperative requires - Receive lower price temporarily

VI Effort

Investing Resources

29

3.3 Discussion

The measurement methods that have been reviewed in the different contexts of commitment show

that most researchers make use of the Likert scale. Respondents could choose between either 7, 5 or

6 answering possibilities. A Likert scale of 6 points implies that there must always be a tendency

towards one side; a neutral answer cannot be chosen.

Another issue is the measurement method of Trechter et al. (2002), where a self-assessment scale is

used for members to rate their level of commitment. A member can rate his or her commitment

level with for example 80%. There is a chance of subjective bias, because members can have

different opinions or ideas on what a high level of commitment is.

Fulton and Adamowicz (1993) are the only authors that make use of a dichotomous variable.

In their research, member commitment is related to patronage, which is not exactly the same as

member commitment but can be seen as a behavioural expression of commitment. It is not how the

authors define commitment; rather, they see it as a result of commitment. The sample items is

designed to measure whether members of a cooperative deliver the majority of their grain to with

one cooperative. Members can either respond negatively (0) or positively to this statement (1).

Moreover, not every publication that had been reviewed, presented a measurement method for the

proposed definition of member commitment. For example, Solinger et al. (2008) state that the

method of measuring organizational commitment by Allen and Meyer (1990) should be extended by

adding aspects of attitude. However, they do not present options for the operationalization of their

extended model. Jiménez et al. (2010) and Sharma & Irving (2005) make use of a fourth component

of commitment, in addition to three components that had already been defined by Allen & Meyer

(1991). In the investigations of both Jiménez et al. (2010) and Sharma & Irving (2005), continuance

commitment is replaced by calculative commitment. Moreover, imperative commitment is added as

a fourth component. While both components are explained, measurement methods have not been

presented in both articles.

The measurement items that are presented in Table 1 might seem overlapping in some cases. This is

because these items are used to measure very similar topics. However, just a slight difference in the

formulation of an item can provide researchers with significantly different nuances in the answers.

The aim of Table 1 is to show the various possibilities of sample items that can be selected, which

means that items that seem similar but show slight deviations in their formulation, are included.

In Appendix 5, a selection of a few other sample items is presented. These items were used by

researchers to measure member commitment, but they did not fit any of the categories as shown in

Table 1. The main reason for placing the items in a separate table is because these measure factors

that influence member commitment rather than measuring member commitment.

30

Chapter 4: Measuring the Determinants of Commitment

This chapter discusses the factors that influence commitment, as described in different contexts.

Subsequently, it is explained how these factors are measured by different scholars. At the end of the

chapter, concluding remarks and a schematic overview of measurement possibilities are presented in

Section 4.2. The chapter is ended with Section 4.3, which contains a discussion.

4.1 Determinants of Commitment and Measurement Methods

In scientific literature, much is written about factors that either negatively or positively influence

commitment. The factors explain people’s underlying motives of their level of committed. The

measurement of factors that influence member commitment is an essential part of this investigation.

Through a literature review, the determinants of commitment had been identified and the sample

items for the measurement of these determinants had been collected. Some of the factors have

shown to be of statistical significant influence on member commitment, whereas the influence of

other factors has been proved. Both types of factors will be reviewed, but only the factors that

showed to have a statistically significant influence on commitment are presented in this section. The

structure of Chapter 3 is used to present the determinants that have been mentioned in different

contexts of commitment.

4.1.1 Determinants of Commitment in Marketing Relationships

Business-to-Business (Buyer-Seller Relationships)

Business-to-Consumer

4.1.2 Determinants of Member Commitment to Cooperatives

Service providing

Income dependent

4.1.3 Determinants of Organizational Commitment

4.1.4 Determinants of Commitment to Associations

4.1.1 Determinants of Commitment in Marketing Relationships

Doucette (1997) describes five factors that might determine member commitment to group

purchasing organizations. Data was collected via a questionnaire amongst independent retail

pharmacies that were members of a group purchasing organization. Four factors showed a significant

connection to member commitment. The following items were identified:

1. Suitability of alternatives This item was measured by asking members whether they agreed to the following statements:

“We could easily replace this buying group with another”

“There are other buying groups we could join that are as good as this one”

(Doucette, 1997: 189)

Both items were measured through scales of 5 points, from 1. Strongly Disagree to 5. Strongly Agree.

31

2. Commitment of other members “The members of this buying group have a strong sense of loyalty to it”

“This buying group is a key part of the members’ purchasing systems”

3. Trust

“This buying group really knows its business”

“This buying group tries to help its members achieve their goals”

4. Information exchange “Our relationship with this buying group is characterized by open communication”

“We give and receive information from this buying group”

(Doucette, 1997: 189)

The statements belonging to the three items mentioned above, were measured with a scale from 1

to 5, from (1) Strongly Disagree to (5) Strongly Agree. ‘Commitment of other members’ showed the

strongest relation to commitment.

Morgan and Hunt (1994) proposed a positive relation of the following concepts on relationship

commitment, which had shown to be statistically significant in their research:

1. Relationship Termination Costs

Anchors: 1. Strongly Agree to 7. Strongly Disagree

The sample items are not presented in the article; only the rating scale is given.

2. Relationship Benefits

“If you could not buy your stock from your present major supplier, you would likely be

purchasing from some other major supplier (we will call this the "alternate supplier"). Please

compare your major supplier with this alternate supplier concerning the following items:

“Gross profit provided by a product line common to both suppliers.”

“Product performance provided by a product line common to both suppliers.”

(Morgan and Hunt, 1994: 34)

These statements could be rated on a 7-point Likert scale, anchored as follows: 1. Present supplier is

much better to 7. Present supplier is much worse

3. Shared values

“Please indicate the degree to which you believe that (1) your supplier would agree with the

following statements, and (2) you would agree with the following statements (two part

question):

“To succeed in this business, it is often necessary to compromise one's ethics.”

“If an employee is discovered to have engaged in unethical behaviour that results primarily in

personal gain (rather than corporate gain), he or she should be promptly reprimanded.”


32

4. Trust, which is defined as a feeling of confidence and the belief that the other party is reliable in

the relationship. A high level of trust in relationships can lead to more commitment to these

relationships. (Morgan and Hunt, 1994). It was measured at follows:

“In our relationship, my major supplier:

1.” ...cannot be trusted at times.”

2.”...can be counted on to do what is right.”

3. “...has high integrity.”


The last two items were scored through a 7-point Likert scale, ranging from 1. Strongly Agree to 7. Strongly Disagree.

Ball et al. (2004) concluded that communication, trust, complaints handling and satisfaction have a

statistically significant effect on loyalty. Data was collected through a questionnaire among

customers of banks. It is not explained whether these customers are consumers, businesses, or both.

1. Communication is measured as follows:

- “I have an easy and satisfactory relationship with my bank”

- “The bank keeps me constantly informed of new products and services that could be in my

interest”

- “Personal service and advice of my bank”

- “Clearness and transparency of information provided by the bank”

(Ball et al., 2004: 1276)

The first two statements could be rated on a Likert scale, anchored Totally disagree – Totally Agree,

whereas the last two were anchored Very poor – Very Good . No information is provided on the

number of points on the Likert scale.

2. Trust - “Overall, I have complete trust in my bank”

- “When the bank suggests that I buy a new product it is because it is best for my situation”

- “The bank treats me in an honest way in every transaction”

(Ball et al., 2004: 1276)

The statements could be rated on a Likert scale, anchored Totally disagree – Totally Agree. The number of points on the Likert scale was not given. Complaints handling and satisfaction are two determinants of which no details are given in the article about the measurement method, items or the scale.

Anderson & Weitz (1992) found several determinants of commitment in channel relationships.

They use the relationship between manufacturers and distributors to illustrate commitment and its

determinants. The relationship between members and cooperatives can also be seen as a

manufacturer versus distributor relationship. The sample items from manufacturer’s perspective will

be presented, as these are more closely related to sample items that measure member commitment

33

to cooperatives. The following factors had a statistically significant influence on the relationship

commitment of the manufacturer towards its distributor:

1. Manufacturer's idiosyncratic investments in the relationship

- “If we switched to a competitive distributor, we would lose a lot of the investment we've

made in this distributor”

- “It would be difficult for us to recoup investments made in this distributor if we switched to a

competitive distributor”

- “If we decided to stop using this distributor, we would have a lot of trouble redeploying our

people and facilities presently lot of trouble redeploying our people and facilities presently

serving this distributor“

- “If we decided to stop representing this distributor, we would be wasting a lot of knowledge

that's tailored to their method of operation“

- “We have made a substantial investment in personnel dedicated to this distributor

- “We give extensive training to our customers on how to use this“

- “We have gone out of our way to align ourselves with this distributor in the customer's mind’

- “We have invested a great deal in building up this distributor's business“

- “We have made a substantial investment in facilities dedicated to this distributor“

- “We have made a substantial investment to create a reporting system that is similar to this

distributor's“

- “We get a significant advantage from being located near this distributor's facility“

(Anderson & Weitz, 1992:31)

2. Degree to which manufacturer grants territorial exclusivity to distributor

- “We do not use distributors that compete with this distributor“ (R)

- “How many distributors carry your product line in this territory?“

3. Manufacturer's perception of the level of communication in relationship

- “We keep this distributor well informed about our products and what is going on in our

company“

- “Our company and this distributor make it a point to keep each other well informed“

- “We hesitate to give this distributor too much information“ (R)

- “We are quite involved in the marketing and planning efforts of this supplier this

distributor“

- “This distributor seeks our advice and counsel concerning their marketing efforts“

- “This distributor is willing to let us see their weaknesses as well their strengths“

(Anderson & Weitz, 1992:32)

Items of all four determinants could be answered through a 7-point Likert scale, anchored 1. Strongly Disagree and 7. Strongly Agree. 4.1.2 Determinants of Member Commitment to Cooperatives

Fulton and Adamowicz (1993) identify different factors that have an effect on patronage; in the

conclusion of their article, Fulton and Adamowicz (1993) state that patronage is a result of member

commitment to cooperatives. Their research is focused on so-called individual-specific preferences,

rather than attributes that characterize the organization, or in this case the cooperative. According to

34

the authors, these characteristics can potentially influence loyalty to an organization. Due to

limitations in the data, the researchers have only looked at the individual preferences of members

(Fulton and Adamowicz, 1993).

Three variables were considered to be of influence on the dependent variable patronage. The

following items showed to be of direct influence on patronage:

1. “Percentage of income from grain“

2. “Importance of dividends“

3. “Importance of agro-services availability“

(Fulton and Adamowicz, 1993:45)

The second and third factor could be rated on a 5-point scale, ranging from 1. Very Important to 5.

Very Unimportant. To give an answer on the first measurement item, respondents could fill in a

number.

Trechter, King and Walsh (2002) present different factors that have a relationship with member

commitment. These were categorized into member characteristics, cooperative characteristics,

financial performance of the cooperation and communication. The main focus of their research was

to find out if communications have an influence on member commitment and whether members can

be segmented to target different types of communications to them. Factors that were statistically

significant related member commitment are listed below:

1. Member Characteristics - “Service on Board of Directors“

- “Training received by Cooperative“

- “Educational level“

- “Service on cooperative committee“

(Trechter, King and Walsh, 2002:22)

2. Cooperative Characteristics

- “Marketing Cooperative“

- “Number of Business Suites“

- “Consolidation in Last 5 Years“

- “Merger in Last 5 Years“

- “Type of Equity Revolvement“

- “New Generation Total Equity per Member“

- “Total Equity per Member“

3. Financial Performance - “Average Debt to Equity Ratio“

- “Average Local Return on Equity“

- “Equity Revolvement Rate“


Although the measurement method of sample items that were used for member- and cooperative

characteristics and financial performance have not been discussed in this article, the authors did

mention the method used for the last determinant of member commitment:

35

4. Communication Techniques; members of cooperatives were asked to rate the importance of

these communication technique from cooperatives, by rating each of the items on a 5-point scale,

ranging from 1. Very Unimportant to 5. Very Important. The following items proved to influence

member commitment significantly:

- “Communications with Manager“

- “Focus Groups“

- “Number of Press Releases per Year“


Österberg and Nilsson (2009) proved three factors to be related to member commitment to a

cooperative. These factors showed statistical significance:

1. Members’ Satisfaction with the Profitability of their Farm Operations

This variable could be rated by the respondents trough a 7-point Likert scale ranging from 1.

Very Satisfied to 7. Very Dissatisfied

2. Age of members

The respondents could choose from six answering categories; 1 = less than 19 years, 2 = 20–

29 years, 3 = 30–39 years, 4 = 40–49 years, 5 = 50–59 years, and 6 = 60–69 years

3. Members’ Experience from Board Work

First, respondents was asked whether they were or had been functioning as a director. If the

answer was yes, they had to state the number of years in the role of director.

Cechin et al. (2012) identified commitment to collective action and commitment to a customer-

oriented strategy. Four statistically significant factors to these types of commitment were presented

in this article; the exact measurement method of these factors has not been discussed in the article.

1. Market

Autonomy

- “Autonomy to decide how much to produce“

- “Autonomy to choose farm technology“

- “Autonomy to choose plant/animal variety“

(Cechin et al., 2012)

Incentives

- “Perception that payment is proportional to effort”

- “Satisfaction with price the cooperative pays for the product”


2. Hierarchy

Formalization

- “Determination of quality standards in contract”

- “Pre-determined deliverance dates”

- “Formal rules and procedures for agreements”

- “Written documents from the cooperative to inform about expected quality”

36

Control

- “Perception that the cooperative controls rigorously quality of delivered product”

- “Perception that the cooperative controls rigorously used inputs”

- “Perception that the cooperative monitors rigorously productive activity on-farm”


3. Community

Involvement

- “Participation in general assemblies”

- “Participation of son in activities of youth committee”

- “Participation of wife in activities of women committees”

- “Performing any function in the cooperative’s governance”

- “Perception that members share same cooperative values”


Communication

- “Frequency of information exchange on quality improvement between farmer and the

cooperative”

- “Informal means of personal interaction informing farmers about expected quality”


4. Democracy

Voice

- ‘Influence on the cooperative’s path when member participates’

- ‘Perception of influence on own economic benefits when member participates;

- ‘Perception that strategic decisions are made by members’

(Cechin et al., 2012: 49)

- ‘Perception that members can vote in every important decision’

Trust in Representative democracy

- “Perception that board of directors considers member’s interests in their decisions”

- “Acceptance of board of directors deciding strategic issues without consulting members”

- “Perception of corruption in cooperative”

Perception of Ownership

- “Perception of being the cooperative’s co-owner”

(Cechin et al., 2012: 49)

The factors community and democracy only appeared to be of statistical significant influence on

commitment to collective action. The relation to customer-oriented strategy was in both cases

significant.

Bijman & Verhees (2011) identified several determinants of customer commitment to supply

cooperatives, that had proven to be of statically significant influence.

1. Market Positioning

Low prices

37

- “The products of my feed supplier are expensive” (R)

- “Compared to other feed suppliers, the prices of my supplier are low”

- “The prices of my supplier are low”

High product quality

- “The quality of the products from my supplier is high”

- “Compared to other suppliers, my supplier delivers high quality feed”

- “The quality of the products from my supplier is above average”

High quality sales representatives

- “My sales representative is a specialist in the field of animal feed”

- “My sales representative know a lot of managing a farm”

- ”My sales representative is an expert in his field”

- “My sales representative is no expert in providing feeding advice” (R)

(Bijman & Verhees, 2011: 20)

2. Customer Relationships

Personal relationship

- ”I have regular contact with several people in the organisation of my supplier” (V)

- ”My supplier takes my problem serious”

- ”I have a positive relationship with my supplier”

- ”My supplier and I are friends”

- ”My supplier inspire me to get the best out of my farm”


Trust in the relationship

- “My supplier lives up to his promises”

- “It is necessary to write down the agreements with my supplier” (R) (V)

- “My supplier is a reliable business partner”

- “I trust the information I receive from my supplier”

Dependence on the relationship

- ”It is easy for me to shift to another supplier” (R)

- ”Changing suppliers will cost me a lot effort and time”

- ”To shift to another supplier involves a lot trouble”

- ”I am depending heavily on my current supplier”

- ”It is easy for me to terminate the relationship with the representative of my current

supplier” (R) (V)

- ”I will cost me a lot of time, money and effort to change to another supplier”


3. Cooperative Characteristics

Exit costs

- ”When I leave this supplier, my effort in supporting him has been in vain”

- ”When I leave this supplier, I will lose money”

38

- ”When I leave this supplier, I loose particular rights”

Participation in Governance of the Cooperative

- ”My supplier takes my advice serious”

- ”In developing his strategy, my supplier listens to his customers”

- ”I find it difficult to understand the organization of my supplier” (R) (V)

- ”I am able to influence the strategy and policies of my supplier”

(Bijman & Verhees, 2011: 21-22)

4. Social Network

Commitment of other customers

- ”Colleague’s that buy from my supplier often have a personal relationship with this

supplier”

- ”Colleague’s that buy from my supplier are very committed to this supplier”

Positive references from other customers

- ”Colleague’s that buy from my supplier are satisfied with his performance”

- ”When other talk about this supplier, it is usually positively”


The statements could be answered through a 5-point Likert scale, anchored 1. Not Agree and 5.

Agree

4.1.3 Determinants of Organizational Commitment

Allen and Meyer (1990) identified several antecedent variables to organizational commitment.

Data collection was done by sending a questionnaire to fulltime employees of three organizations. A

retail store, a hospital and a university library. The employees had different positions in the

organization. In total, 337 persons filled in and returned the questionnaire.

- Antecedents of affective commitment

1. Job challenge: ”In general, the work I am given to do at my organization is challenging

and exciting”

2. Role clarity: ”This organization always makes clear what is expected of me”

3. Goal clarity: ”In my organization, I often find myself working on assignments without a

clear understanding of what it is I am supposed to be doing” (R)

4. Goal difficulty: ”The requirements of my job are not particularly demanding” (R)

5. Management receptiveness: ”The top management people in my organization pay

attention to ideas brought to them by other employees”

6. Peer cohesion: ”Among the people in this organization there are few close

relationships” (R)

7. Organizational dependability: ”I feel I can trust this organization to do what it says it

will do”

8. Equity: ”There are people in this organization who are getting much more than they

deserve and others who are getting much less” (R)

39

9. Personal importance: ”In this organization you are encouraged to feel that the work

you do makes important contributions to the larger aims of the organization”

10. Feedback: ”I am rarely given feedback concerning my performance on the job” (R)

11. Participation: ”In my organization, I am allowed to participate in decisions regarding

my workload and performance standards”

(Allen and Meyer, 1990: 17-18)

Each scale item had a seven-point response format, ranging from 1. Strongly Disagree to 7. Strongly

Agree.

- Antecedents of continuance commitment

1. Skills: “To what extent do you think the skills and experiences you have obtained at your

current organization would be useful at other organizations? That is, how many of these

skills/experiences would 'transfer' from one organization to another?”

2. Education: “My formal education would not be very useful if I was working anywhere but at

this or a very similar organization” (R)

3. Relocate: “If you were to leave your organization, do you think you would have to move to a

different location?”

4. Self-investment: “I have had to invest a great deal of time and effort in this organization

('learning the ropes', etc.)”

5. Pension: “If you were to leave your current organization now, would you lose any of the

retirement funds you would have received if you stayed with the organization?”

6. Community: “Approximately how long have you resided in the local area? (Response to this

item was divided by the respondent's age.)”

7. Alternatives: “If I were to leave this organization, I would have little difficulty finding a

comparable or better job elsewhere”

8. (Allen and Meyer, 1990: 18)


Agree.

- Antecedent of normative commitment

1. Organizational Commitment Norm: “Employees in this organization are expected to have a

strong sense of personal commitment to the organization.”

(Allen and Meyer, 1990: 18)


Agree.

4.1.4 Determinants of Commitment to Associations

In the context of commitment in associations, Schlesinger and Nagel (2013) identified eight factors that have a statistically significant influence on member commitment: Individual Factors

1. “(Global) Member Satisfaction“

Anchored 1. Very Dissatisfied tot 5. Very Satisfied

40

2. Connectedness with the association - “I feel comfortable in my association” - “I feel connected to the association” - “I like to visit events organized by the association” - “I am proud, when I can tell others that I belong to this association” - “I have discussions with other members about association matters”

3. Social Interaction

- “Our interaction is open and friendly” - “There is a good atmosphere in the association” - “We talk a lot about problems that occur” - “We highly value team spirit and cooperative partnership”

The items of category 2 and 3 could be rated through a 5-point Likert scale, anchored: 1. Does

not apply at all to me – 5. Applies completely to me

4. “Voluntary Involved in the Association”

Dummy variable, where 0 = no and 1= yes

(Schlesinger and Nagel , 2013: 95)

Contextual Factors 1. “Settlement Structure”

Where 1 = Countryside, 2 = Agglomeration, 3 = Urban Environment, 4 = Large City

2. “Membership Fee” Average yearly fee for adults: 1 = ≤ 100 CHF, 2 = 101-249 CHF, 3 = ≥ 250 CHF

3. “Importance of Achieving Athletic Successes (goal of the association)” Anchored 1. Not important – 5. Important

4. “Promotion of Sociability by the association” Anchored 1. Not important – 5. Important

(Schlesinger and Nagel , 2013: 95)

4.2 Conclusion

The determinants that were found to be of statistical significant influence on member commitment

to cooperatives and commitment in other contexts, are listed in Appendix 2. To indicate the different

types of factors that influence commitment, the determinants have been allocated to various,

hypothesized categories. Clusters of sample items were created, based on the type of subject they

were related to. For example, a group of items was related to member’s economic benefits at a

cooperative. The items had been categorized and labelled as ‘economic benefits’. The allocation of

the items resulted in eight different categories, which are presented in Table 2.

41

Table 2: Main Categories of Determinants of Member Commitment

Determinants

1. Economic Benefits 2. Alternatives available for Members 3. Cooperative’s characteristics 4. Member Characteristics 5. Trust and Trustworthinessᵃ 6. Communication between Members and Cooperative 7. Member’s Participation in Cooperative’s Governance 8. Control and Standards

Notes: ᵃ Trust is a noun, which means ‘having positive expectations that another will not—through words, actions, or decisions—act opportunistically’ (Robbins, 2005). This could be seen as the type of trust members of a cooperative can have towards the people that lead the cooperative and the decisions they make; trust in leadership competencies. Trustworthiness is an adjective that refers to the likelihood that a company or a person does what it, he or she has promised to do. In other words, the company is ‘worthy of trust or confidence; reliable, or dependable’ (Oxford English Dictionary, http://www.oed.com/view/Entry/91004?redirectedFrom=trustworthy#eid, retrieved: 18-4-2016)

Table 2 shows eight determinants of member commitment. Although some factors appear more

often in the literature than others, the determinants in Table 2 are seen as equally important. The

numbers 1-8 have been allocated to the categories randomly. Most categories are represented

equally throughout the literature, except for ‘cooperative’s characteristics, which is only mentioned

in articles by Trechter, King and Walsh (2002), Schlesinger and Nagel (2013) and Fulton and

Adamowicz (1993). This category comprises less items than other categories and mainly items on

factual information about the cooperative; most of the items in this category could be answered

through yes or no.

Member commitment can be seen as a result of a combination of determinants. Not just one factor

can be seen as the most important determinant of member commitment. Moreover, the importance

of certain determinants is dependent on the personal preferences of members. Some members

deem economic benefits the most important aspect of being a member at a cooperative, while

others prefer transparent and frequent communication.

4.3 Discussion

From the literature review, it becomes clear that there is a wide range of factors that have an impact

on commitment. The diversity of antecedents of commitment shows the complexity of the

measurement of commitment. Table 2 lists categories that consist of multiple factors; an elaborated

version of the table is presented in Appendix 2.

Initially, eleven categories evolved from collecting and grouping the factors that showed strong

similarities. The exclusion of three categories from the total of eleven, was approached as follows.

Two of the three excluded categories contained only one or two sample items. These categories

were named: ‘Products and Services offered’ and ‘Cooperative Structure’. They contained the

following three items, which had been moved to the category ‘Cooperative’s Characteristics.

- Consolidation in Last 5 Years (category Cooperative Structure)

- Merger in Last 5 Years (category Cooperative Structure)

- Importance of agro-services availability (category Products and Services offered)

The third category that was taken from the classification of eleven categories, was

‘Connection/Identity/Ethics’. Items in this category rather measured the dependent variable member

http://www.oed.com/view/Entry/91004?redirectedFrom=trustworthy#eid

42

commitment than its determinants. The items listed in the second table of Appendix 5 show strong

similarities to the items categorized under identification in Table 1. In other words, the items can be

seen as options for measuring member commitment rather than measuring a determinant of

member commitment.

43

Chapter 5: The Marketing Perspective: Customer Loyalty

Whereas the two previous chapters focused on the measurement of commitment and its

determinants in different contexts, this chapter looks at a concept from another body of literature

which is similar to member commitment. In the field of marketing, customer loyalty is a concept that

shows clear parallels to member commitment. In this chapter, customer loyalty and its link to

member commitment is explained first. Then, the methods of measuring customer loyalty are

discussed. This is followed by an overview of determinants of customer loyalty. Methods for

measuring these determinants will be discussed subsequently. Eventually, the goal of this chapter is

to find out whether and how learnings and insights from the marketing literature can be used for the

measurement of member commitment in a cooperative context.

5.1 Customer Loyalty

Customer loyalty is widely addressed in the marketing management literature. In this field of

literature, a distinction is made between relationship marketing and transaction marketing; the

difference is in the role of the customer. Whereas transaction marketing is focused on profit

maximization in the first place, relationship marketing emphasizes customer-retention and creating

long-term relationships through an individualized approach towards the customer (Walsh, Gilmore &

Carson, 2004). It is a tool that is used to build, increase and maintain customer loyalty. The following

model, which is adopted from the service management literature, shows the following relation

(Hallowell, 1996):

Customer Satisfaction Customer Loyalty Profitability

(Hallowell, 1996)

Customer satisfaction is determined by the customer’s perceived value of a product or service. The

latter is a result of the trade-off that is made between sacrifices made and benefits gained. If the

perceived value is higher than from other products or services, it can result in customer loyalty

through repeat purchases or positive word-of-mouth. In turn, this results in more profitability for the

supplier or producer of the product or service (Hallowell, 1996).

For the concept of customer loyalty, the marketing literature presents three distinct approaches: a

behavioural, an attitudinal and an integrated approach. The latter contains both behavioural and

attitudinal elements (Rauyruen and Miller, 2007). These approaches to customer loyalty are similar

to member commitment, which is also discussed from behavioural and attitudinal perspectives.

Because of these two approaches, various definitions of customer loyalty can be found in the

marketing literature.

According to the behavioural approach, a loyal customer is a person that demonstrates his or her

loyalty by repeatedly purchasing a product or brand, or is at least willing to do so (Dick and Basu,

1994; Rauyruen and Miller, 2007). A person’s willingness to repurchase a product is not directly

observable behaviour, while doing a repeat purchase is. Rather, willingness can be seen as an

attitude. In addition, Rauyruen and Miller (2007) describe a relational element of behavioural

customer loyalty: the willingness to stay in a relationship with a supplier of a product or service.

44

From an attitudinal point of view, Hallowell (1996) states that various aspects form a customer’s

personal connection to a product or service. As the connection gets stronger, customer loyalty will be

higher (Hallowell, 1996). Attitudinal loyalty is also explained as the psychological attachment of a

person towards a product, combined with a degree of willingness to promote the product through

word-of-mouth (Rauyruen and Miller, 2007).

The definitions of customer loyalty clearly highlight that scholars have different views on the

approaches that can be used to explain it. An integrated approach, which combines attitudinal and

behavioural aspects to define customer loyalty, is proposed by the majority of scholars. Dick and

Basu (1994) adopt the integrated approach, which is presented in Figure 2.

In the framework of Dick and Basu (1994) the attitudinal elements of customer loyalty are divided

into three categories, which together determine a person’s relative attitude. By cognitive

determinants, the presence of a brand or product in the mind of a person is meant; this indicates for

example whether a person is able to quickly recall a company or brand name when you name a

certain product category. Affective factors can be explained through feelings and emotions that a

person experiences when using or thinking about a product or a brand. The last category is labelled

as conative, which refers to the costs of switching to an alternative, sunk costs and customer’s

expectation of a product or service (Dick and Basu, 1994). A relative attitude is formed based on the

three aspects and impacts the degree of loyalty, which is named the Loyalty Relationship. The

strength of this relationship is influenced by two additional factors. These are depicted as social

norm, which relates to personal norms and values, and situational influence, which can be seen as

external influences (Dick and Basu, 1994). Repeat patronage is presented as an expression of

customer loyalty and reflects the behavioural aspect of customer loyalty. Although the article dates

back to 1994, the framework is used to give a first impression of the concepts that are going to be

addressed in this chapter and how these relate to commitment. Moreover, it clearly illustrates the

integrated approach that is used to describe customer loyalty in the marketing literature, through

both attitudinal and behavioural elements.

Yi and La (2004) state that customer loyalty is important to companies, because it is advantageous

for their profit, it can enable cost reductions for marketing departments and the exit barriers of loyal

Figure 2: Customer Loyalty from an Attitudinal Perspective (Dick and Basu, 1994)

45

customers for switching to an alternative company can become higher. Their explanation clearly

highlights the parallels of customer loyalty and member commitment as described in Chapter 3 and

4.

5.1.1 Measuring Customer Loyalty

The items that are most commonly used by other researchers to measure customer loyalty, are listed

by Yi and La (1994) as a high proportion of the same brand choice, a high repurchase intention and a

high intention of positive word of mouth (Yi and La, 1994: 352). The first two items relate to the

behavioural aspect of customer loyalty, whereas the third item describes an attitudinal aspect of

customer loyalty. In the article, it is not explained how the items have been operationalized.

Russo et al. (2016) measure customer loyalty in a business-to-business context in the healthcare

sector through the following items:

- “Given that there is a need, we intend to continue doing business with this provider for the

foreseeable future”

- “Given that there is a need, how likely is it that your firm will continue doing business with

this provider during the next year?”

- “Given that there is a need, how likely is it that your firm will continue doing business with

this provider during the next 3 to 5 years?”

(Russo et al., 2016: 894)

Respondents could rate these statements on a Likert scale of 7 points, anchored Strongly Disagree –

Strongly Agree.

Lam et al. (2004) describe customer loyalty as being important to the performance of a firm, because

it has considerable influence on the firm’s competitive advantage. Customer loyalty and its

determinants are discussed in a business-to-business context. The authors define customer loyalty as

a behaviour, which can be shown either through patronizing the firm, or through spreading positive

word-of-mouth to other people or businesses. Data was collected at an international firm in the

courier industry, which is named DPS in the sample items. Respondents could rate the following

statements on a 5-point Likert scale, anchored Strongly Disagree - Strongly Agree.

- Customer loyalty (making recommendations to others attitudinal loyalty)

- “I have said positive things about DPS to other professional colleagues”

- “I have recommended DPS to professional colleagues who seek my advice”

- “I have encouraged other companies to do business with DPS”

- Customer loyalty (patronage behavioural loyalty)

- “My company considers DPS as its first choice for courier services”

- “My company will do more business with DPS in the next few years”

(Lam et al., 2004: 299)

Rauyruen and Miller (2007) measured both behavioural and attitudinal loyalty through items that

had been derived from other studies on the topic of customer loyalty. The questionnaire was

created for a business-to-business context and was sent to business clients of firms operating in the

Australian courier industry. Their measurement items are not mentioned in the article.

46

Chandrashekaran et al. (2007) studied customer loyalty in a business-to-business context at ABC,

which is a service provider with customers at various types of firms. The goal was to find out the

strength of satisfaction as a determinant of customer loyalty. Customer loyalty was presented

through a dichotomous sample item:

- “Would you recommend ABC to other customers?” (yes/no)

(Chandrashekaran et al., 2007: 157)

The investigation of Flint et al. (2011) was composed of two studies. Based on insights from the first

study, a second study was conducted with slightly different sample items for customer loyalty. In the

first study, the questionnaire had been sent to purchasing managers from various industries.

Questions were asked about the relationship of the purchasing managers towards their suppliers.

Customer loyalty was measured through the following items:

Study 1:

- “I am loyal to our key suppliers”

- “I go out of my way to ensure that our key suppliers are taken care of”

- “I am committed to using our key suppliers”

(Flint et al., 2011: 224)

In the second study, the model was tested with some additional constructs and different measures for customer loyalty. The dataset contained answers from purchasers and executive officers of electronics manufacturing firms Study 2: - “I feel that we are very loyal to this supplier” - “I regularly seek alternative suppliers that I can use instead of this supplier” - “I am committed to this supplier relationship”

(Flint et al., 2011: 226)

All items were measured through a 5-point Likert scale, anchored Strongly Disagree - Strongly Agree.

5.1.2 Conclusion

From the literature that has been reviewed to collect sample items for measuring customer loyalty,

Table 3 was constructed. It lists all the sample items and shows the most important elements of

measuring customer loyalty. The table with a complete list of sample items per author is presented in

Appendix 3. The first category in Table 3 is labelled as ‘loyalty’, because it shows items that ask for

respondent’s self-assessment of loyalty and it also tests two expressions of customer loyalty, such as

the a repurchasing intention and the proportion of the same brand choice. The intention of a person

to repurchase a product from a company is used to measure customer loyalty. Moreover, statements

about commitment and loyalty are included in the reviewed questionnaires to measure customer

loyalty in a straightforward manner. Recommending, or the intention to recommend a company or

product to other people, is also seen as a measurement of customer loyalty. Finally, the intention of

wanting to be in a long-term relationship with the other party is seen as an indicator of customer

loyalty.

47

Table 3: Summary of Sample Items Customer Loyalty

5.2 Determinants of Customer Loyalty

In this section, the most prevalent determinants of customer loyalty are described. The link of these

determinants to the antecedents of member commitment is explained, as well as their measurement

methods in the marketing literature. The following three categories can be identified as the most

important and dominant determinants of customer loyalty in scientific publications:

- Customer satisfaction; this concept can be approached in two ways. It can be expressed

based on a specific transaction or as overall satisfaction, which is a total sum of various

encounters with a firm or a product (Lam et al., 2004).

- Customer value; the concept of customer value can be explained as the perception of a

customer about the trade-off between service and price (Blocker, 2011). Service or quality

could be related to benefits the customer gains from a product, whereas the price of a

product can be seen as the sacrifice the customer has to make to obtain it. The trade-off

between these two variables results in a perceived customer value.

- Switching costs; time and money spent on switching to another supplier (Lam et al.,2004).

5.2.1 Measuring Determinants of Customer Loyalty

For customer loyalty in a business-to-business relationship, Lam et al. (2004) identified three

determinants: customer value, customer satisfaction and switching costs. All three determinants

showed a statistical significance with both behavioural and attitudinal customer loyalty. They state

that customer value can be seen as a trade-off between the service people get and the price they pay

for it. Data was collected by approaching corporate customers of an international, globally operating

firm in the courier and mailing industry, which is referred to as ‘DPS’ in the sample items (Lam et al.,

2004)

Category Loyalty - High proportion of the same brand choice - High repurchase intention - Loyal to our key suppliers - Committed to the relationship - Feeling that we are very loyal to this supplier - Committed to using our key suppliers - Consider DPS as the first choice for courier services

Alternatives - I regularly seek alternative suppliers that I can use instead of this supplier

Recommend to Others - Said positive things about DPS to other professional colleagues - Recommended DPS to professional colleagues who seek my advice - Encouraged other companies to do business with DPS - High intention of positive word of mouth - Would you recommend ABC to other customers? (yes/no)

Intention to be in a Long-Term Relationship - Intention to continue doing business with this provider for the foreseeable future - Likelihood of continue doing business with this provider during the next year - Likelihood of continue doing business with this provider during the next 3 to 5 years? - Will do more business with DPS in the next few years - I go out of my way to ensure that our key suppliers are taken care of

48

- Customer value is operationalized by composing a weighted sum of scores on the following

attributes:

Service Quality Attributes

- “Understanding of my business and shipping needs by the staff“ - “Timeliness of pickup of consignments as promised“ - “Reliability in delivering shipments (accurately, on time, etc.) “ - “Ease of booking a shipment with a company“ - “Promptness in advising about any problems with my shipments“

(Lam et al., 2004)

The items could be rated on a 10-point scale, anchored Most Inferior - Most Superior.

Price Attributes

- “Shipment costs incurred by your company (i.e., rates charged for actual services by the courier firms)”

- “Shipment preparation costs incurred by your company (i.e., printing, packing, labelling, filling shipping forms, etc.)”

- “Delay costs incurred by your company (i.e., costs related to fixing shipment delays, etc.)”

- “Communication costs incurred by your company (i.e., costs of telephone, fax, etc., in dealing with the courier firms)”

- “Costs incurred by your company in fixing problems with the courier firms' invoices and so on.”

(Lam et al., 2004)

The items had to be rated by respondents on a 10-point scale, anchored Most dissatisfied - Most

Satisfied.

- Customer Satisfaction

- ”In general, my company is very satisfied with the services offered by DPS”

- ”Overall, my company is very satisfied with its relationship with DPS”

- ”Overall, DPS is a good company to do business with”

- ”Overall, DPS treats my company very fairly”

- ”Overall, the service of DPS comes up to my expectations”

(Lam et al., 2004)

Respondents could indicate their scores on a 5-point Likert scale, anchored Strongly Disagree –

Strongly Agree.

- Switching Costs - ”It would cost my company a lot of money to switch from DPS to another courier firm”

- ”It would take my company a lot of effort to switch from DPS to another courier firm”

- ”It would take my company a lot of time to switch from DPS to another courier firm”

- ”If my company changed from DPS to another company, some new technological

problems would arise”

- ”My company would feel uncertain if we have to choose a new courier firm”

(Lam et al., 2004)

49

The categories that Lam et al. (2004) use are common for the measurement of customer loyalty. The

sample items however, are specifically tailored for the mailing industry. The researchers show that

customer value is an antecedent to customer satisfaction; customer value has a direct effect and an

indirect effect on customer loyalty.

This theory is supported by Blocker (2011), who investigated the relation between customer value

and customer satisfaction. He set out a questionnaire among managers in ICT firms from five

different countries, to gather information about the relationships with their service providers.

Customer value and its relation to customer satisfaction were conceptualized, based on theories that

had been empirically tested by other scholars first.

- Customer Satisfaction; customer value had been confirmed to be of statistically significant

influence on customer satisfaction, which was measured as follows:

- ”In general, my company is very satisfied with the services offered by this provider.”

- ”Overall, my company is very satisfied with its relationship with this provider.”

- ”Overall, how satisfied is your company with this provider?”

(Blocker, 2011)

The first two items could be rated on a 7-point Likert scale anchored Strongly Disagree - Strongly

Agree. The last item was anchored Extremely Dissatisfied – Extremely Satisfied.

- Customer Value - ”Creates superior value for us when comparing all the costs versus benefits in the relationship.” - ”Considering the costs of doing business with this service provider, we gain a lot in our overall relationship with them.” - ”The benefits we gain in our relationship with this provider far outweigh the costs.” - ”Our company gets significant customer value from this provider relationship.”

(Blocker, 2011)

Items could be ranked on a 7-point Likert scale, ranging from Strongly Disagree - Strongly Agree. Besides measuring customer value and customer satisfaction on itself and their mutual relationships, Blocker (2011) measured factors that determine customer value. From these factors, only operation costs showed not to be statistically significant. The determinants of customer value were measured as follows:

- Offer quality - “Exceeds our standards for quality products and services.” - “Consistently provides quality products and services to us over time. ” - “Provides us with excellent quality products and services.”

(Blocker, 2011) - Personal Interaction

- “Maintains excellent personal interaction with our people .” - “Has built a very good working relationship with us.” - “Is very easy to work with.”

(Blocker, 2011) - Service Support

- “Provides us with excellent support services.”

50

- “Always gives us the appropriate information when we need it.” - “Gives us excellent support to deal with day-to-day issues.”

(Blocker, 2011) - Know-How

- “Provides specialized expertise to help us in our industry.” - “Uses their firm's know-how to help us drive innovation in our own business processes.” - “Applies their firm's knowledge to help us improve our business processes.”

(Blocker, 2011) - Direct Costs

- “The price your firm had to pay to purchase the service from the provider.” - “Price paid to obtain the service.” - “Price of the service your firm purchased.”

(Blocker, 2011) - Acquisition Costs

- “Implementation costs to begin using the service your firm purchased.” - “Ordering costs to obtain the service.” - “Administrative costs to coordinate the initial set-up with this provider.”

(Blocker, 2011)

Russo et al. (2016) collected data in the healthcare industry, by asking business customers for their perceptions on the following items, that showed to have a statistically significant influence on customer loyalty: - Customer Value - “Our main supplier creates greater value for us when comparing all the costs versus benefits in the relationship.’ - “The benefits we gain in our relationship with this provider far outweigh the costs.” - “Our company gets significant customer value from this provider relationship.”

(Russo et al., 2016) - Customer Satisfaction - “In general, my company is very satisfied with the services offered by this provider.” - “Overall, my company is very satisfied with its relationship with this provider.” - “Overall, how satisfied is your company with this provider?”

(Russo et al., 2016) - Perceived Switching Costs - “It would cost my company a lot of money to switch from this supplier to another one.” - “It would take my company a lot of effort to switch from this supplier to another one.” - “I would take my company a lot of time to switch from this supplier to another one.” - “If my company changed from this supplier to another one, some new technological problems would arise.” - “My company would feel uncertain if we have to choose a new supplier.”

(Russo et al., 2016) The respondents could score their level of agreement on a 7-point Likert scale, anchored Strongly disagree - Strongly Agree. Rauyruen & Miller (2007) found several determinants of behavioural and attitudinal customer loyalty. The following items proved to have a statistically significant influence on behavioural customer loyalty: - “Overall satisfaction” - “Overall Perceived service quality” (Rauyruen and Miller, 2007)

51

Determinants of statistical significant influence on attitudinal customer loyalty: - “Trust in the supplier” - “Affective Commitment to the supplier” - “Overall satisfaction“ - “Perception of service quality”

(Rauyruen and Miller, 2007) Commitment is hypothesized as a determinant of both types of customer loyalty. The authors use affective and calculative types of commitment in their research. Affective commitment appeared to be of statistically significant influence on attitudinal customer loyalty. The sample items that were used for these determinants were adopted from other publications. However, these are not presented in the publication of Rauyruen and Miller (2007). 5.2.2 Conclusion

Table 4 shows the main categories of factors that influence customer loyalty according to the

literature that has been reviewed.

Table 4: Measuring Determinants of Customer Loyalty

Categories and Sample Items Customer value - Understanding business and needs - Delivers at time promised - Reliability - Booking is easy - Quick advice - Creates value - Gaining a lot of the relationship - Benefits outweigh the costs

Price Attributes -Shipment/preparation/delay/communication costs - Fixing costs -Price paid

Customer Satisfaction - Relationship satisfaction - good company to do business with - my company very fairly - Service lives up to expectations - Service quality - Exceeds quality standards - Consistent in quality

Switching Costs - High switching costs - Switching effort - Time to switch - Problems arise when switching

Personal Interaction - Personal interaction - Relationship building is satisfactory - Easy to work with

Service Support -Excellent support services -Gives information when needed - Specialists in expertise -Uses know-how for innovation & improving processes

52

5.3 Discussion

The items in Table 4 show similarities to the items that have been used to measure commitment in

different contexts. It can be concluded that commitment and customer loyalty touch the same

topics. Just like member commitment, looking for alternative options is a measurement that has

been used in this context.

There are many other concepts discussed in the marketing literature that can be related to member

commitment. One of these concepts is relationship commitment, which is mainly discussed in the

context of marketing channel relationships.

Another concept that is closely related to member commitment is trust. The literature on trust in

relationships is plentiful and this research acknowledges its strong relationship to member

commitment. The concept of trust can be found in Chapter 4, being one of the determinants of

commitment in marketing relationships. A third concept that can be linked to member commitment

is brand loyalty. Instead of investigating brand loyalty and the factors that influence it, the choice was

made to get more insight into customer loyalty. Brand loyalty is not included in this investigation,

because it is merely used in the business-to-consumer context.

Day by day, consumers have the opportunity to choose a product or a specific brand. Moreover,

switching between brands is easy and there is little reciprocity between the consumer and the

producer. Customer loyalty in a business-to-business context is more useful for member

commitment to cooperatives. It shows more similarities to the relationship between members and

the cooperative, because in both contexts the focus is on creating, maintaining and strengthening a

long-term relationship that provides benefits for both parties.

The measurement items for customer loyalty showed strong similarities to the measurement of

commitment in the contexts that have been discussed in Chapter 3. By contrast, the determinants of

customer loyalty show elements that deviate from the determinants of member commitment that

have been identified in Chapter 4. These can be applied to measuring commitment.

‘Price attributes’ and ‘switching costs’, as shown in the table, have also been identified as

determinants of commitment in Chapter 4. Another category from Table 4 that can be linked to the

factors that influence commitment, is ‘personal interaction’. It can be linked to ‘communication

between members and the cooperative’, which is defined as a determinant of commitment in

Chapter 4. Categories from Table 4 provide new insights in the context of member commitment

because customer value, service support and customer satisfaction have not been presented in the

literature as part of measuring member commitment and its determinants.

Whereas a part of the commitment literature focuses on member’s benefits and whether a

cooperative offers the best price, customer loyalty mostly highlights the trade-off between benefits

and price. The result of that trade-off is expressed through a certain degree of customer value.

Another item that stands out from the customer loyalty literature, is service support. It appeared

that providing value-added know-how to the customer and offering support and advice when

needed, has a positive impact on customer loyalty. The last and perhaps most important item that

was found in the context of customer loyalty is customer satisfaction: Does the delivered quality

meet the customer’s expectations, or does it even exceed expectations?

Both in the domain of cooperatives and customer loyalty, there is a will and a need to build and

maintain a long-term relationship between either members and/or customers. However, despite of

53

the fact that firms are going the extra mile to increase customer satisfaction to keep the customer on

board, they are also acting from self-interest because they want to make more profit and cut costs by

keeping existing customer loyal instead having to acquire new ones.

55

Chapter 6: Reflection of Findings on Method NCR

The goal of this chapter is to reflect the findings from the literature review on the measurement

method of NCR for member commitment to cooperatives. In the previous three chapters, the

measurement of commitment from different perspectives and concepts in the marketing literature

have been addressed, including its determinants. This chapter begins with Section 6.1, where the

questionnaire of NCR is presented and explained. Thereafter, the results of the literature review in

Chapter 3, 4 and 5 will be benchmarked with the current questionnaire of NCR. The chapter will be

concluded with a discussion in Section 6.4.

6.1 The Research Programme of NCR on Member Commitment

In 2014, NCR constructed a programme on member commitment to cooperatives. This project

consists of three phases, of which two are executed through a questionnaire. The first phase consists

of a questionnaire among the cooperatives that are members of NCR. The respondents had different

functions within the cooperatives, such as Manager of Cooperative Affairs, Communications

Manager or CEO. The goal of the questionnaire was to gather information on the following topics:

This phase is followed by Phase 2, where members of cooperatives received a questionnaire. The

goal of Phase 2 was to find out the level of member commitment among members to cooperatives.

The following topics were covered in the questionnaire:

Phase 2: Questionnaire Members to Cooperatives

- General Information

- Relationship with the Cooperative

- Frequency of Visiting the Member Meetings

- Representation of Member’s Interests through the Cooperative

- Member’s feelings about the Cooperative

- Member’s business relationship with the Cooperative

- Grading own Commitment and Market Positioning of Cooperative

- Advice on Increasing Member Commitment

- Membership at other Cooperatives

Phase 1: Questionnaire Cooperatives

- General Information

- Members and Membership

- Financing

- Governance

Member’s Meeting

Board and Management

Governance– corporate governance code

Other Topics

- Organisational Culture and Communication

- Strategy

- Level of Member Commitment

56

Participating cooperatives can compare the outcomes of Phase 2 to Phase 1 and identify gaps and

points of improvement. In addition, the results of the first two phases are benchmarked with results

of other cooperatives, which are presented anonymously. Only the general outcomes of the

questionnaire can be benchmarked, such as the average grades of members for their commitment to

the cooperative. In the research programme, a distinction is made between service providing

cooperatives and income dependent cooperatives. Seen from a member’s perspective, a service

providing cooperative rather sells a product or a service, whereas a cooperative that purchases

goods from its members can be defined as an income dependent cooperative. If cooperatives want

to benchmark more specific results and aim at developing and implementing actions for

improvement, they have the option to participate in Phase 3, which is also facilitated by NCR.

In Phase 2, cooperatives have the possibility to benchmark their results against the overall results of

a group of other cooperatives in the same category, which are either income dependent or service

providing cooperatives. Phase 3 gives the opportunity to further explore outcomes of different

cooperatives. Phase 3 can also provide more insights into what other cooperatives do differently and

how that relates to their level of member commitment.

6.2 Questionnaire Phase 2: Member Commitment to Cooperatives

In consultation with NCR, the practical part of this research project focuses on Phase 2 of their

member commitment programme. The second phase can be seen as the core element of the

programme, as it measures member commitment and the outcomes create a foundation for Phase 3.

The research question of NCR was formulated as follows:

To what extent are member of a cooperative committed to their cooperative and which different types of member commitment are stimulated by these cooperatives?

The second part of this question was covered by Phase 1, whereas Phase 2 was executed to answer

the first part of the research question. Members of 15 different cooperatives participated in the

research programme and responded to the questionnaire that was used in Phase 2. The

questionnaire consists of 23 questions which are grouped into four categories. These categories and

their contents are shown in Table 7, where the answering possibilities are included as well.

Phase 3: Benchmarking and Improvement Options

- Tailored consultancy programme

- Facilitated by NCR

- Specific benchmarking

- Formulation of Improvement Options

57

Table 5: Items Questionnaire NCR

Category Items Answering Possibilities

General Info 1. a) What is your gender? b) What is your age? c) Are you active in the board of <cooperative>? d)For how long have you been a member of <cooperative>? e) Why are you a member of <cooperative>?

a) Male/Female b) < 20; 20-30; 30-40; 40-50; >50 c) Yes/No d) 0-5 years; 5-10; 10- 20; longer than 20 years e) Open question

Relationship with your Cooperative

2. For me (my company) it is important to be a member of <cooperative> 3. I think it's important that I (my company) have (has) control within <cooperative> 4. I find it important that <cooperative> listens to its members. 5. I find it important (for my company) to be a co-owner of <cooperative> 6. Have you attended the General (Delegate’s, district-, or member’s) Assembly in the last 3 years?

7. The member’s interests are central to <cooperative>

7a. If yes, could you indicate why 7b. If not, could you indicate why not

1. Totally Disagree, 2. Disagree, 3. Neutral, 4. Agree, 5. Totally Agree

1. Always, 2. Often, 3. Sometimes, 4. Rarely, 5. Never 1. Always, 2. Often, 3. Sometimes, 4. Rarely, 5. Never Open question Open question

My feelings about <cooperative>

8. I am proud to be a member of <cooperative> 9. I feel involved with the future of <cooperative> 10. <Cooperative> is of great personal importance to me 11.I am willing to do extra work/effort to make <cooperative> successful 12. I feel that my norms and values match those of <cooperative> 13. I think it is my duty to remain a member of <cooperative>


My business relationship with <cooperative>

14. If I terminate my membership at <cooperative >, I lose certain benefits (e.g. additional services, the 'network' and return options) 15. For me/my business there is no option other than being a member of <cooperative> 16. I am a member of <cooperative> because they provide the best price / service for me (my company) 17. It think it is important that <cooperative> also represents interests 18. How would you rate your commitment to <cooperative>? 19. How would you rate <cooperative>? for the way it positions itself as a cooperative in the market? 20. If you could give <cooperative> an advice to increase member commitment, what would you suggest it to do? 21. Are you a member of other cooperatives, besides you membership at <cooperative> If yes, do you feel more or less committed to <cooperative> than to the other cooperative(s)?


1-10

1-10

Open

Yes/No

More, Equally, Less

Table 5 shows the exact structure of the questionnaire with the corresponding items and answering

possibilities.

58

The theoretical framework that was used to design the questionnaire of Phase 2, was adopted from

Jiménez et al. (2010), who presented the framework that is shown in Figure 4. The authors adapted

elements of the most common model for organizational commitment, which was presented by Allen

& Meyer (1990).

Figure 3: Bases of Co-operative Member Commitment: Antecedents and Expected Outcomes Source: Jiménez et al. (2010)

In its explanation on the theoretical framework, NCR states that the four different types of

commitment as indicated by Jiménez et al. (2010) are applied to the questionnaire, by including

statements and questions that relate to each of these types of commitment. The first column of

Table 6 shows the different types of commitment and the questions that belong to these types are

presented in the second column. The questions are numbered in the same way as the original

questionnaire. The third column indicates the answering possibilities that could be chosen by the

respondents.

Table 6: Categorization of Items by NCR

Type Item Answering Possibilities

Affective Q8. I am proud to be a member of <cooperative> Q9. I feel involved with the future of <cooperative> Q10. <Cooperative> is of great personal importance to me Q11.I am willing to do extra work/effort to make <cooperative> successful

1. Completely Disagree – 5. Completely Agree

Calculative Q14. If I terminate my membership at <cooperative >, I lose certain benefits (e.g. additional services, the 'network' and return options) Q16. I am a member of <cooperative> because they provide the best price / service for me (my company) Q17. It think it is important that <cooperative> also represents interests

1. Completely Disagree – 5. Completely Agree

Imperative Q15. For me/my business there is no option other than being a member of <cooperative>

1. Completely Disagree –

5. Completely Agree

Normative Q12. I feel that my norms and values match those of <cooperative> Q13. I think it is my duty to remain a member of <cooperative>

1. Completely Disagree –

5. Completely Agree

59

Questions 1 to 7 and 18 to 21 are not included in the table, as these were not indicated as a part of a

type of commitment.

6.3 Review Questionnaire NCR

The NCR questionnaire is constructed of items that were formulated by Allen & Meyer (1990), who

measured organizational commitment. As the items had to fit the cooperative context rather than

the organizational context, the items were adapted by NCR where needed. The objective of NCR is to

measure the level of member commitment among cooperatives. Four different types of commitment

are defined, which means that the output of the questionnaire should indicate the scores of

members on these different types of commitment. Whereas Phase 1 focuses on the factors that

influence member commitment, the second Phase of the research programme measures the level

member commitment rather than the factors of influence. To illustrate the differences and

similarities between the NCR questionnaire and the findings from the literature review, this section is

divided into three sub-sections. The first sub-section looks at the questionnaire by comparing the

findings from the literature related to the measurement of member commitment. In the second sub-

section the same kind of benchmark is done with findings related to the factors that influence

member commitment. The last sections compares the questionnaire with items from the marketing

literature that have been presented in Chapter 5.

6.3.1 The Questionnaire compared to results of Chapter 3

The questionnaire of NCR touches the same topics as the items that were found through the

literature review in Chapter 3. For example, personal attachment to the cooperative and the

availability of alternatives. As all of the items from the questionnaire are more or less identical to

those identified in Chapter 3, it can be stated that NCR measures member commitment and not its

determinants.

The main difference between the findings from the literature and the questionnaire, is that member

commitment has been identified in two distinct ways. NCR uses four types of commitment, whereas

the findings from the literature are grouped into six different categories:

NCR Questionnaire Literature Review Member Commitment

1. Affective 1. Loyalty – Self Assessment

2. Calculative 2. Loyalty – Alternatives

3. Imperative 3. Loyalty - Beliefs

4. Normative 4. Identification – Personal Feelings

5. Identification – Involvement

6. Effort – Investing Resources

Another observation is that two items in the questionnaire touch a topic that has not been identified

in the literature review on measuring member commitment. These items are represented by

questions 14 and 16 and relate to the economic benefits gained from being a member at a

cooperative. The reason why these items cannot be found in the literature review of Chapter 3 is that

economic benefits has been identified in the literature as a determinant of member commitment

and not as a direct measurement of member commitment itself.

60

6.3.2 The Questionnaire compared to results of Chapter 4

Two items of the NCR questionnaire could not be matched with those identified through the literature review on measuring member commitment. In Chapter 4, literature on determinants of member commitment was reviewed. Economic benefits was identified as one of the factors that influences member commitment. This category is reflected through questions 14 and 16 in the questionnaire. The following factors have an influence on member commitment, according to the findings of the literature review: NCR Questionnaire

1. If I terminate my membership at <cooperative >, I lose certain benefits (e.g. additional

services, the 'network' and return options)

2. I am a member of <cooperative> because they provide the best price / service for me (my

company)

Literature Review Determinants of Member Commitment

1. Economic Benefits 2. Alternatives available for Members 3. Cooperative’s characteristics 4. Member Characteristics 5. Trust and Trustworthiness 6. Communication between Members and Cooperative 7. Member’s Participation in Cooperative’s Governance 8. Control and Standards

The questionnaire of NCR contains two questions related to the first category. The other factors are not included in the questionnaire and thus, it can be concluded that NCR focuses on the measurement of member commitment rather than measuring its determinants. 6.3.3 The Questionnaire compared to results of Chapter 5

Chapter 5 of this research report discusses the measurement of customer loyalty and its

determinants. Many of the items that are used to measure customer loyalty are similar to items in

the context of member commitment.

With regards to the determinants of customer loyalty, elements such as service support quality and

customer value are not used by NCR through sample items of the questionnaire

6.4 Discussion

Apart from the benchmark that has been made with the literature review and the content of the NCR questionnaire, the methodology of and the execution of their research programme has been evaluated.

The first observation with regards to the methodology was that the selection of respondents in Phase

2. The questionnaire has been answered by members of cooperatives that participated in the

research programme. The respondents were selected as follows; NCR made a recommendation to

the cooperatives regarding the number of respondents, which would be at least 300 to 400 people in

an ideal situation. Each cooperative made a selection of respondents, based on its own criteria. Then,

they had to send the e-mail addresses of the selected respondents to the company that was in

charge of the execution of the questionnaire. The cooperatives could choose which e-mail addresses

of their member’s list were going to be sent to the research company. As a result, some cooperatives

61

selected just members that were active in the board of directors only. In other cases, only 20 contact

details were shared with the research office, while the cooperative had enough members to fulfil the

recommendations of NCR regarding the number of respondents. This way of collecting respondents

is very sensitive to a bias in the results, because the cooperatives that have interest in the outcomes

of the research, can influence or manipulate the outcomes.

Another finding is that the four different elements of member commitment, which are used in the

questionnaire, have different weights that add up to 100%. NCR uses four scales of members

commitment; affective, calculative, imperative and normative. Of 23 questions in the questionnaire,

10 items are used obtain scores on four different scales of commitment. The maximum scores on the

different scales are:

- Affective(35%)

- Calculative (40%)

- Imperative (10%)

- Normative (15%)

These scores add up to 100%, which means that the individual scales are merged into one category,

which represents total member commitment. The implication of this classification is the assumption

that a person’s affective motivations for being committed to a cooperative can at most be 35% of the

total level of commitment. As a consequence, commitment of a member can never be completely

(100%) based on affective motivations. In real life situations, however, it could be that people are

committed to a cooperative for reasons that are purely based on affective motivations.

63

Chapter 7: Conclusion and Discussion

This chapter presents the concluding remarks of this project, as well as suggestions for future

research and a discussion. The main conclusions are presented in Section 7.1 and suggestions for

future research are described in Section 7.2. A discussion on the content and research methodology of

this investigation is presented in Section 7.3.

7.1 Conclusion

This research project was aimed at getting more insight into the different options to measuring

member commitment and its determinants. A literature review was conducted in order to achieve

both research objectives. As a result, an overview of available options for measuring member

commitment and its determinants was constructed. Whereas previous research indicates that

member commitment can be described as an attitude or as behaviour, scholars also make a

distinction between different types of commitment based on the underlying motivations.

The literature review on member commitment that had been carried out for this research project

resulted in an overview of sample items that can be used to measure member commitment. In

addition, a table with six different aspects of commitment was constructed based on a classification

of the sample items from the findings in the literature.

The same holds for determinants of member commitment; previous literature mainly makes a

distinction between economic, organizational and social determinants of member commitment.

Whereas this is a common way to classify the determinants of member commitment, this research

project has approached the determinants by reviewing them for every context of commitment.

Thereafter, the literature study was concluded by a new categorization of eight different factors that

influence member commitment.

From a marketing perspective, parallels have been found between the concept of member

commitment and customer loyalty. Measurements of customer loyalty were reviewed to get more

insight into whether it could potentially add value to the measurement of member commitment and

its determinants. Strong similarities were found between the items that measure customer loyalty

and items that measure member commitment. However, some of the items that measure

determinants of customer loyalty could be taken into consideration in the context of member

commitment, such as customer value, service support and customer satisfaction. In conclusion, the

results on measuring customer loyalty and its determinants can be used in the context of member

commitment; albeit to a limited extent.

Whereas many articles present measurements of member commitment and its determinants,

previous work in the field does not provide a complete overview of the different possibilities on

hand. The added value of this research is the presentation of a complete summary of sample items

that can be used to measure member commitment. Moreover, it suggests two other categorizations

of member commitment and its determinants, other than what is currently presented in the

literature. The sample items have not only been collected in the context of member commitment to

cooperatives, but also in other bodies of literature that discuss commitment, such as organizational

literature.

64

The benchmark of the outcomes from the literature review with the questionnaire of NCR resulted in

a list of recommendations, which will be the starting point for revising and adapting their current

research programme. The fact that recommendations resulting from this research project are going

to be implemented, indicates the practical added value of this research project.

As a final conclusion, it can be stated that member commitment is a complex concept. In some cases,

there was not a clear boundary between the measurement of the dependent variable member

commitment and the independent variables, which can be referred to as determinants of member

commitment. For that reason, Appendix 5 had to be created in order to list the so-called ‘remaining

categories’. These categories contain items that were either presented as measurements of member

commitment, while the items in fact measured a determinant of member commitment and vice

versa.

7.2 Suggestions for Future Research

One suggestion for future research is to look more into the concepts of relationship commitment,

brand loyalty or trust in relation to member commitment. The perspective of brand loyalty, for

example, could be interesting as cooperatives are also brands that carry out a message, represent a

certain image, have a reputation and (try to) create identification of people with the brand.

From a marketing perspective, the Theory of Planned Behaviour of Ajzen & Fishbein (1980) was

investigated, but operationalizing the framework in the context of this research project was

challenging. Nevertheless, the model offers interesting clues on which future research could be

executed.

In the context of cooperatives, it could be interesting to investigate the wide variety of cooperatives

in different sectors and industries and get more insight into the motivations for commitment among

members and whether these motivations and the level of commitment vary for different types of

cooperatives. Another option could be to investigate how cooperatives can use the data coming from

questionnaires and translating these data into action points in the context of their strategy. Another

suggestion is to perform a case study that investigates best practices of member commitment and

research programmes that measure member commitment in practice. There is plenty of literature

on member commitment and its measurements, but recent insights into practices of cooperatives on

measuring member commitment are lacking. Interviews with people involved in developing

questionnaires that measure member commitment might provide valuable insights into choices and

motivations behind a measurement method of member commitment. Moreover, cooperatives could

be approached to collect different opinions on member commitment, for example on its importance

and how to create, improve of maintain it.

Finally, NCR makes a distinction between income dependent and service providing cooperatives in its

research programme. Future research could be executed to scientifically validate this distinction by

checking whether this classification can be confirmed through a literature review.

7.3 Discussion One part of this research project was focused on gathering information by conducting a literature

review. From the reviewed articles, the sample items have been collected and presented for every

different context of commitment. The measurements of factors that influence member commitment

have also been collected through a literature review. Both reviews conclude with an overview at the

end of the chapter, which shows a proposed new categorization of member commitment. The

65

determinants of member commitment had also been collected and listed in a new, proposed

categorization. It needs to be stressed that both categorizations are suggestions for coping with the

measurement of member commitment and its determinants. Moreover, it is important to mention

that because of the fact that the tables shows proposed categorizations, their contents have not yet

been empirically tested or confirmed through interviews with experts. The initial focus of this

research project was to collect and present the vast amount of options for the measurement of

member commitment.

Moreover, this research project has not followed the common categorization of member

commitment and its determinants as presented in the existing literature. For example, the findings

from the literature review on determinants of member commitment have not been presented per

factor (economic, organizational, etc.). Instead, the findings have been described per context of

commitment. Thus, a classification of types of determinants was not made on beforehand; rather, all

options had been investigated and in the end they had been categorized. This resulted in a table with

a new set of hypothesized categories of determinants. Testing this proposed categorization of

determinants in practice could be a valuable addition to this research. As an example, members or

managers of cooperatives could be interviewed to collect opinions on the proposed classification.

With regards to the marketing part, the choice was made to investigate the measurement of

customer loyalty. The results presented in this research should be seen as a first indication to see

whether the concept creates added value to the concept of member commitment. Clearly, more

research should be done to effectively determine if and to what extent marketing concepts can be

related to the concept of member commitment and how it can be operationalized.

Another matter that has been investigated in the field of marketing is the Theory of Planned

Behaviour of Ajzen & Fishbein (1980). However, operationalizing the framework in the context of this

research project put its focus at risk as it was rather challenging because of its complexity.

Nevertheless, the model offers interesting clues on which future research could be executed.

With regards to the benchmark of the results with the questionnaire of NCR, it could be considered

to benchmark the results with other cases than the NCR research programme. The implications of

benchmarking the results of this project to the NCR questionnaire might deviate from benchmarking

them to other practices of measuring member commitment to cooperatives.

67

Chapter 8: Practical Recommendations

In this final chapter, the last sub-question is answered. Based on the evaluation of the research

methodology of NCR and the benchmark of the questionnaire with the results of the literature review,

recommendations for NCR are formulated in this chapter. These recommendations should enable NCR

to review the questionnaire and revise or adapt where needed. The recommendations have a

practical purpose, as they indicate points of improvement for NCR.

8.1 Practical Recommendations

Insights from the literature review included the measurement of commitment in different contexts

and the measurement of its determinants. Additional information was gathered from the concept of

customer loyalty in the marketing literature; the measurement of this concept and its determinants

was discussed. The findings from the literature were used to review the questionnaire that was

designed by NCR to measure member commitment to cooperatives. Moreover, the research

methodology was evaluated. All aforementioned elements resulted in a set of practical

recommendations.

Formulating a clear research objective

NCR needs to define and specify their research objective before revising the

questionnaire. It should be clear which information they would like to gather by setting

out the questionnaire and which questions need to be asked to get the right information.

Decide on the operationalization of member commitment

Currently, NCR operationalizes member commitment through four different aspects,

which are measured in their questionnaire.

NCR can also use the operationalization of member commitment as suggested in Table 1

on page 25. The table presents six types of member commitment, which resulted from

the literature review. Regardless of whether NCR keeps the four different aspects of

commitment or uses the six aspects as suggested in this research, all aspects should be

measured and interpreted separately. According to the current method, the results are

clustered , which means that the four different aspects of commitment are adding up to

100% and cannot only be interpreted as a whole.

Include items in the questionnaire that measure determinants of member commitment

In the current questionnaire, NCR only measures member commitment. It is

recommended to include sample items that measure determinants of member

commitment, as it enables NCR to get more insight into the factors that really influence

the level of commitment among members of cooperatives.

Set out the questionnaire in the context of a longitudinal study

From a scientific perspective it is recommended to set up the research programme as a

longitudinal study, because the results at different points in time allow comparison of

the different results with each other. Not only can the results over time be compared for

one cooperative, it also enables benchmarking them to other cooperatives.

68

An introduction of a longitudinal element is especially interesting for Phase 2 when it is

implemented in combination with Phase 1. It provides more insight, because you get the

whole picture from the cooperative perspective and from a member’s perspective, which

both can be compared over time and between cooperatives.

Revise the sampling method

With regards to the sampling method, it is recommended to carefully select respondents

and think about the sample size that is needed. Sampling is an important aspect of

research, because it affects the reliability of the output and the validity of the

conclusions that are taken from the output.

Create more alignment between Phase 1 and 2

Phase 1 and 2 of the NCR research programme need to be comparable to each other.

Currently, Phase 1 contains elements that are seen as determinants of member

commitment, whereas Phase 2 consists of items that measure member commitment on

its own. It could be more interesting to include items from both perspectives in Phase 1

and 2. For instance, the questionnaire for cooperatives can consist of questions that

concern forms of communications towards members. Consequently, the second phase

questionnaire should enable members to respond to statements or questions about the

communication of the cooperative. This may provide insights into the efforts of a

cooperative to strengthen member commitment and whether members recognize and

value these efforts.

Include customer loyalty items

The results of the literature review on measurement of customer loyalty can be used to

include items on customer satisfaction, the relationship between two parties, quality of

service support and customer value in the NCR questionnaire.

69

Reference List

Allen, N.J. and Meyer, J.P. (1990), The measurement and antecedents of affective, continuance and

normative commitment to the organization. Journal of Occupational Psychology, Vol. 63; pp 1-18

Anderson, E. and Weitz, B. (1992). The Use of Pledges to Build and Sustain Commitment in

Distribution Channels. Journal of Marketing Research, Vol. 29, No. 1; pp 18-34

Ball, D., Coelho, P.S. and Machás, A. (2004). The role of communication and trust in explaining

customer loyalty: An extension to the ECSI model. European Journal of Marketing, Vol. 38; pp 1272-

1293

Bhuyan, S. (2007). The “People” Factor in Cooperatives: An Analysis of Members' Attitudes and

Behavior. Canadian Journal of Agricultural Economics/Revue Canadienne d’Agroeconomie, Vol. 55

(3); pp 275 – 298.

Bijman, J. and Verhees, F. (2011). Member or customer? Farmer commitment to supply cooperatives.

Paper presented at the International Conference on the Economics and Management of Networks

(EMNet), 1 – 3 December 2011, Limassol, Cyprus

Blocker, C.P. (2011). Modeling customer value perceptions in cross-cultural business markets. Journal

of Business Research Vol. 64; pp 533–540

Cechin, A., Bijman, J., Pascucci, S. and Omta, O. (2012). Decomposing the Member Relationship in

Agricultural Cooperatives: Implications for Commitment. Agribusiness, Vol. 29, Issue 1; pp 39–61

Chandrashekaran, M., Rotte, K., Taks, S.S. and Grewal, R. (2007). Satisfaction Strength and Customer Loyalty. Journal of Marketing Research, Vol. 40; pp 153–163 Dick, A.S. and Basu, K. (1994). Customer Loyalty: Toward an Integrated Conceptual Framework.

Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Vol.22 (2); pp 99-113

Doucette, W. R. (1997). Influences on member commitment to group purchasing organizations.

Journal of Business Research, Vol. 40; pp 183-189

Dunn, J. R. (1988). Basic cooperative principles and their relationship to selected practices. Journal of

Agricultural Cooperation, Vol.3; pp 83-93

Flint, D.J., Blocker, C.P. and Boutin Jr, P.J. (2011). Customer value anticipation, customer satisfaction

and loyalty: An empirical examination. Industrial Marketing Management Vol. 40; pp 219–230

Fulton, M. (1999). Cooperatives and member commitment. Finnish Journal of Business Economics,

Vol. 48(4); pp 418-437

Fulton, J.R. and Adamowicz, W.L. (1993). Factors that Influence the Commitment of Members to Their

Cooperative Organization. Journal of Agricultural Cooperation, Vol. 8; pp 39-53

Hallowell, R. (1996). The relationships of customer satisfaction, customer loyalty, and profitability: an

empirical study. International Journal of Service Industry Management, Vol. 7 (4); pp 27-42

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com.ezproxy.library.wur.nl/doi/10.1002/agr.v29.1/issuetoc

70

Hart, J. de, (2005). Landelijk verenigd, Grote ledenorganisaties over ontwikkelingen op het

maatschappelijk middenveld. Publicatie van het Sociaal Cultureel Planbureau, Den Haag; pp 1-105

Jiménez, M.C.R., Martí E.G. and Ortiz M.J.H. (2010). Member commitment in olive oil co-operatives:

Cause and consequences. Journal of Co-operative Studies, Vol. 43; pp 24-35

Lam, S.Y., Shankar, V. and Erramilli, M.K. (2004). Customer Value, Satisfaction, Loyalty, and Switching

Costs: An Illustration From a Business-to-Business Service Context. Journal of the Academy of

Marketing Science, Vol. 32 (3); pp 293-311

Meyer, J.P. and Allen, N.J. (1990). Affective and Continuance Commitment to the Organization:

Evaluation of Measures and Analysis of Concurrent and Time-Lagged Relations. Journal of Applied

Psychology, Vol. 75, No. 6; pp 710-720

Meyer, J.P. and Allen, N.J. (1991). A three-component conceptualization of organisational

commitment. Human Resource Management Review, Vol.1; pp 61-89

Moliner, M.A. (2009). Loyalty, perceived value and relationship quality in healthcare services. Journal

of Service Management, Vol. 20 Issue 1; pp.76-97

Morgan, R. M. and Hunt, S.D. (1994). The commitment-trust theory of relationship marketing. The

Journal of Marketing, Vol. 58 (3); pp 20-38

Nilsson, J. (2001). Organisational principles for co-operative firms. Scandinavian journal of

Management, Vol. 17; pp 329-356

Novkovic, S. (2008). Defining the co-operative difference. The Journal of Socio-Economics, Vol. 37; pp

2168–2177

Odekerken-Schröder, G. (1999). The Role of the Buyer in Affecting Buyer-Seller Relationships:

Empirical Studies in a Retail Context. Dissertation. Maastricht: Gaby Odekerken- Schröder

Oliver, R.L. (1999). Whence Consumer Loyalty? Journal of Marketing, Vol. 63, Fundamental Issues and

Directions for Marketing; pp. 33-44

Österberg, P. and Nilsson, J. (2009). Members' perception of their participation in the governance of

cooperatives: the key to trust and commitment in agricultural cooperatives. Agribusiness, Vol. 25; pp

181-197

Rauyruen, P. and Miller, K.E. (2007). Relationship quality as a predictor of B2B customer loyalty. Journal of Business Research, Vol. 60; pp 21–31 Robbins, S. P. (2005). Organizational behavior. 11th Edition, Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice-Hall.

Russo, I., Confente, I., Gligor, D.M. and Autry, C.W. (2016). To be or not to be (loyal): Is there a recipe

for customer loyalty in the B2B context? Journal of Business Research, Vol. 69; pp 888–896

71

Sangen, G.J.H. van der (1999). Rechtskarakter en financiering van de coöperatie : een onderzoek naar

de civielrechtelijke kenmerken van de coöperatie in het licht van de vraag of daaruit beperkingen

voortvloeien voor de financiering van haar ondernemingsactiviteiten. PhD thesis, Faculty of Law, Paul

Scholten Centrum (PSC) , University of Amsterdam; pp 13-19

Schlesinger, T. and Nagel, S. (2013). Individuelle und strukturelle Faktoren der Mitgliederbindung im

Sportverein. Sportwissenschaft, Vol. 43; pp 90-101

Sharma, P. and Irving, P.G. (2005). Four bases of family business successor commitment: Antecedents

and consequences. Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, Vol. 29; pp 13-33

Solinger, O.N., Van Olffen, W. and Roe, R.A. (2008). Beyond the three-component model of

organizational commitment. Journal of Applied Psychology, Vol. 93; pp 70

Trechter, D.T., King, R.P. , Walsh, L. (2002). Using Communications to Influence Member Commitment

in Cooperatives. Journal of Cooperatives, Vol. 17; pp 14-32

Vaus, D.A. de (2001). Research Design in Social Research. London: SAGE Publications.

Walsh, S., Gilmore, A. and Carson, D. (2004). Managing and Implementing Simultaneous Transaction

and Relationship Marketing. International Journal of Bank Marketing, Vol. 22, Issue 7; pp 468 - 483

Yi, Y. and La, S. (2004). What influences the relationship between customer satisfaction and

repurchase intention? Investigating the effects of adjusted expectations and customer loyalty.

Psychology & Marketing, Vol. 21 (5); pp 351–373

Zeuli, K.A. and Cropp, R. (2004). Cooperatives: Principles and Practices in the 21st century. The Board

of Regents of the University of Winconsin System, Cooperative Extension Publishing, Madison; pp 1-

90

Websites

ICA Co-operative Identity, Values & Principles

http://ica.coop/en/whats-co-op/co-operative-identity-values-principles (last visited 20-1-2016)

ICA Co-operative http://ica.coop/en/what-co-operative (last visited 20-1-2016)