Social Responsibility and Reputation in the Olive Oil Cooperatives´ Management in the Province of Jaén (Spain)

The attention to Social Responsibility (SR) has gradually become a concurrent strategy of modern companies’ management. Much has been written on SR, stakeholder satisfaction, strategy, competitive advantage and business... [ view full abstract ]

The attention to Social Responsibility (SR) has gradually become a concurrent strategy of modern companies’ management. Much has been written on SR, stakeholder satisfaction, strategy, competitive advantage and business success. It is well known that cooperatives are playing an increasingly important role in balancing economic, social and environmental concerns.
In the last years SR has become a specific topic of cooperatives concern and a key issue in the strategic agenda of competitive cooperatives. According to the definition of cooperative determined by the International Cooperative Alliance, the economic and financial gains are not the end of the activities of the cooperatives. Instead, they are only instruments to meet the present and future needs of their members, consumers and employees. Thus, cooperatives have a different and unique approach to SR defined by their people, products, principles, environment, community, democracy and development, considered the main axis of this approach.
The contribution of cooperatives has been recognized as main actors for sustaining economy because of their capacity in enhancing local economies output and fostering regional development and population welfare. Even acknowledging that the degree of implementation of SR is still different in companies, cooperatives seem to be responsible by nature. However, reputation management has not been a visible strength in the cooperative enterprises.
First of all, this work theoretically analyzes the relationship between SR and reputation in cooperatives. Later, from a practical point of view, we carry on an empirical analysis focused on the olive oil cooperatives in the south of Spain, specifically in the province of Jaén.
SR and reputation are critical in businesses because of their contribution to value creation. However, little is known about these strategic management constructs in the cooperative sector. This paper contributes to fill this existing gap by developing a structural model to empirically evaluate the relationship between them and other related variables. The results of this study show that SR improves quality and innovation levels in cooperative societies getting awards and enhancing their reputation in the market.
With respect to the previous studies on the topic, this work reveals a main reason of interest. The research article points out the characteristics of this kind of agribusiness and shows the importance of the adoption of a SR orientation in fostering reputation in order to create sustainable competitive advantages for the sector. Therefore the study reinforces the role of research in addressing real problems of cooperatives.