| Title |
Social Capital and Cooperative Membership: Evidence from Agricultural Cooperatives in Central Vietnam
|
| Author |
Soobin Kim, Sang-Hyun Kim, Kyung Ryang Kim, Kwangsuck Lee
|
| Paper Information |
Vol.67 No.1 (2026-3)
|
Page |
27~45
|
| File |
KJAE(2026-Vol67No01)-Korean-02.pdf
|
| Abstract |
While economic impacts of agricultural cooperatives have been extensively studied, the individual
characteristics driving membership decisions remain underexplored. This study examines the
relationship between psychological and social traits and cooperative membership among 500
agricultural households across 39 cooperatives in Central Vietnam. Using OLS specifications with
district fixed effects, we find that the social trust shows the strongest association with membership,
with members scoring 0.38 standard deviations higher than non-members. Adherence to both
equity and hierarchical norms also exhibit significant positive relationships, while risk preferences
and patience show insignificant associations. Cooperative members report significantly higher
agricultural income, though causal interpretation is limited by our cross-sectional design. These
findings highlight the critical role of social capital in collective action decisions and suggest that
policies promoting cooperatives should prioritize community trust-building alongside economic
incentives.
|
