The effect of trust on the performance and satisfactio of co-operative members at the ‘ZÖLD-TERMÉK’ producer organization

Dudás, Gyula – Fertő, Imre

Keywords: trust, marketing cooperative, horticultural sector, case study, Hungary

The paper investigates the effect of trust between members and between members and the management in an agricultural marketing co-operative in the Hungarian horticultural sector. More specifically, we looked at how trust affected the performance and satisfaction of members of the co-operative, as well as their intention to remain part of the co-operative. We analyzed the role of trust from two aspects: cognitive and affective. In line with our prior hypothesis, we found differences between cognitive and affective trust in terms of how it affected group cohesion and the level of satisfaction of co-op members.
Our results suggest that trust between co-operative members has a positive effect on group cohesion. The trust between members (cognitive and affective together) affects group cohesion to a greater effect than trust between members and management (cognitive and affective together). Affective trust between the members and affective trust between members and the management, when looked at together, has a greater impact on group cohesion than cognitive trust between members plus cognitive trust between members and the management. Our results confirm that group cohesion has a positive effect on the members’ satisfaction. Additionally, affective trust has a greater impact on members’ satisfaction than cognitive trust does.
The greater impact of affective trust indicates that currently, the emotional basis of co-operation is stronger than its tangible economic benefits. The management of the Producer Organization (PO) should improve the reliability of the PO and strengthen personal relationships (between members, as well as between members and the management) in order to boost cohesion within the organization. This would increase satisfaction of the members and help retain members. Naturally, the PO has to ensure safe sale and marketing, which is the most important expectation of the members to the OP.

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