Does Gender Diversity Affect Performance in Agri-Food Cooperatives? A Moderated Model

[EN] Existing research about the relationship between gender diversity and performance in cooperatives is not conclusive. In view of this reality, this paper aims firstly to analyse the effectiveness of gender diversity and equality management systems (GDMS) in promoting gender diversity in the deci...

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Bibliographic Details
Authors: Melia-Marti, Elena|||0000-0002-0417-2139, Tormo-Carbó, Guillermina|||0000-0001-5865-9631, Julia-Igual, Juan
Format: article
Publication Date:2020
Country:España
Institution:Universitat Politècnica de València (UPV)
Repository:RiuNet. Repositorio Institucional de la Universitat Politécnica de Valéncia
Language:English
OAI Identifier:oai:riunet.upv.es:10251/172660
Online Access:https://riunet.upv.es/handle/10251/172660
Access Level:Open access
Keyword:Gender
Cooperatives
Agri-food
Export
Environmental concern
Organic products
Alliances
Cooperation
Performance
ORGANIZACION DE EMPRESAS
ECONOMIA, SOCIOLOGIA Y POLITICA AGRARIA
05.- Alcanzar la igualdad entre los géneros y empoderar a todas las mujeres y niñas
Description
Summary:[EN] Existing research about the relationship between gender diversity and performance in cooperatives is not conclusive. In view of this reality, this paper aims firstly to analyse the effectiveness of gender diversity and equality management systems (GDMS) in promoting gender diversity in the decision-making bodies (GDDB) as well as in the performance of agri-food cooperatives. Secondly, the objective is to establish the relationship between GDDB and performance, and subsequently, to analyse the moderating effect of GDDB on three of the business strategies adopted by cooperatives in order to achieve competitive advantages: Integration strategies, internationalisation strategies, and environmental concern, based on a survey carried out in 2018 using a sample of 2489 Spanish agri-food cooperatives. A moderation analysis was conducted to test the proposed model and hypotheses. The results obtained confirm a positive relationship between the implementation by cooperatives of GDMS and GDDB. The relationship between GDMS, GDDB, and performance was not significant. The moderating effect of GDDB was only statistically significant in the case of export intensity (EI) and environmental concern (EC), although, contrary to expectations, this effect was negative, meaning that the impact of both strategies on performance becomes more apparent as GDDB is reduced.