This research analyzes the evolution of the co-operative sector in Singapore. The genesis of the sector can be traced to the founding of 3 credit co-operatives in 1925, when Singapore was still a British colony. More than ninety years later, the number of co-operatives in Singapore currently stands at 84, and the number of co-operative members now exceeds 1.5 million (representing more than one-third of the total resident population of Singapore). This study therefore aims to understand and explain the growth trajectory of Singapore’s co-operative sector.
For this qualitative study, in-depth, semi-structured interviews are conducted with 21 individuals who hold leadership positions in a wide range of credit, service and school co-operatives. The interviews are transcribed and then content analyzed. The rich, primary data collected through the interviews are supplemented with secondary data gathered from publications, records maintained by the Registry of Co-operative Societies, and archival sources.
Content analysis of the primary and secondary data is carried out through the perspectives of institutional theory and organizational ecology. Specifically, by drawing on various institutional and ecological concepts, a series of theoretical propositions are developed. These propositions are as follows:
Proposition 1a: Singapore co-operatives as a whole are not able to gain constitutive legitimacy due to the competition of identities.
Proposition 1b: Non-credit co-operatives venturing into well-established businesses are unable to draw attention to their co-operative identity, and have more constitutive legitimacy in their other identities.
Proposition 1c: Constitutive legitimation has been hindered due to the nature of co-operatives targeting only specific communities rather than the entire Singapore population.
Proposition 1d: Constitutive legitimacy in the co-operative identity is not a significant driving force for the survival of Singapore co-operatives.
Proposition 2a: Singapore co-operatives have strong socio-political legitimacy, which compensates for their weak constitutive legitimacy.
Proposition 2b: Singapore co-operatives are very dependent on socio-political legitimacy.
Proposition 2c: Socio-political legitimation through regulation results in high barriers to entry, which results in stagnation rather than growth, and leads to a low density sector.
Proposition 3a: Credit co-operatives initially face normative isomorphism, which then changes to coercive isomorphism as increasingly stringent regulations are implemented.
Proposition 3b: Normative isomorphic pressures are dominant for non-credit co-operatives; however, the source of influence shifts over the years.
Proposition 4a: The stable environment of credit co-operatives leads them to pursue a specialist strategy, resulting in a very low level of competition and a particularly high level of institutional isomorphism.
Proposition 4b: Co-operatives by nature have a propensity to be specialists focusing on specific niches, and hence face a low level of competition.
Proposition 4c: For co-operatives which are generalists, competition with for-profit competitors compels them to highlight their co-operative identity.
These propositions show how various institutional and ecological forces shape the evolution of the Singapore co-operative sector over time, and explain the current sectoral dynamics.
9. Social and solidarity economy, civil society and social movements
