Directors’ Gender Role Identity and Performance : Gender and governance of a Korean consumer co-0perative, iCOOP Ah- young Kim Woosuk Choi Seungkwon Jang (Sungkonghoe University, Korea) 7 th ICA ASIA-PACIFIC CO-OPERATIVE RESEARCH CONFERENCE Kobe, Japan 26 th November 2012

1.Introduction 2.Theoretical Background 3.Method 4.Result 5.Discussion Contents

Introduction Growth Rate of Co-operatives in Korea 3 / 14 NACF : National Agricultural Cooperative Federation NFFC : National Federation of Fisheries Co-operatives

Introduction Major Challenges 4 / 14 How can the co-operative enterprises be kept sustainable? How can board members be motivated to take part actively in governance processes of co-operative?

Introduction Female-dominated Boards of Consumer Co-operatives in Korea 5 / 14 Source : The Journal of the iCOOP Korea Cooperative Institute vol.8 (2012)

Introduction Korean women’s participation in economical activities 6 / 14 Source : Economically Active Population Survey(2011), Statistics Korea(

Introduction Research Question 7 / 14 Does female dominance of the boards have characteristics of femininity? ☞ Do only women have characteristics of femininity? ☞ Do only men have characteristics of masculinity?

Introduction Research Purposes 8 / 14 1) To identify the structural relationship of gender role identity, their own governance and financial performa nce among the primary co-operatives’ boards 2) To identify the structural relationship of gender role identity, their own governance and value centered perf ormance among the primary co-operatives’ boards

Theoretical Background Gender role identity 9 / 14 Gender role identity (Weiten, 1997): expectations about what is appropriate behavior for each sex -Masculinity : characteristics considered appropriate to a man -Femininity : characteristics considered appropriate to a woman - Androgyny : high levels of both masculinity and femininity

Theoretical Background Gender role identity 10 / 14 BSRI (Bem Sex-Role Inventory ): measurement tool developed by Bem (1974) to measure gender role identity ( masculine / feminine / androgynous /undifferentiated) → KSRI (Korean Sex-role Inventory): by Chung (1990) Androgyny : Individuals increase flexibility and adaptability (Bem, 1974; Chung, 1990)

Theoretical Background Co-operative Governance 11 / 14 Co-operative Governance : the rules, the tools and the concrete procedures through which co-operative societies are managed (Shaw, 2006) Values MissionPrinciples Co-operative Governance

Theoretical Background Co-operative Governance 12 / 14 The fundamental principles of governance: democracy, representation, transparency Spear, Cornforth and Aiken (2009): “ Co-operatives often find it difficult to maintain membership involvement and commitment, particularly as organizations grow and become more professionally led. As a result, there is a danger that organizations can become dominated by their professional staffs and lose their members. ”

Theoretical Background Co-operatives’ Performance 13 / 14 Co-operative Performance (Davis, 2012) Business Performance Value/Principle Performance

Research Model 14 / 14 Theoretical Background

Hypotheses 15 / 14 Gender Role Identity Explicit Governance Implicit Governance Financial Performance Hypothesis 1 Hypothesis 2 Gender Role Identity Explicit Governance Implicit Governance Value centered Performance Theoretical Background

Hypothesis 1 16 / 14 Gender Role Identity Of Board Explicit Governance Implicit Governance Financial Performance Theoretical Background

Hypothesis 2 17 / 14 Gender Role Identity Of Board Explicit Governance Implicit Governance Value centered Performance Theoretical Background

Method Samples 18 / primary co-operatives in iCOOP 328 directors (323 women and 5 men) Survey questionnaire Analysis: using SPSS 12.0 & Smart PLS 2.0.

Method Variables 19 / 14 Femininity (friendly, affectionate, tender ) Masculinity ( confident, powerful, forceful ) Gender Role Identity Democratic Decision Making Disclosure of Information Director’s Responsibility Implicit Governance Board Size/ meetings Attendance Professionalism Explicit Governance

Method Variables 20 / 14 ROA(Return On Assets) Financial Performance General Meeting Attendance House Meeting Attendance Committees Attendance Training & Development program Attendance Value centered Performance * The House Meeting is grassroots units for member participation in new iCOOP product development, food safety tests and campaigns.

Result Result of Hypothesis 1 21 / 14 HypothesesVerification H1-1 The gender role identity of boards can influence Financial performance Accept H1-2 The gender role identity of boards can influence explicit governance Reject H1-3 The gender role identity of boards can influence implicit governance Accept H1-4 The explicit governance can influence financial performance. Reject H1-5 The implicit governance can influence financial performance. Accept The structural relationship among gender role identity of boards, co-operative governance and financial performance

Hypothesis / 14 Gender Role Identity of boards Explicit Governance Implicit Governance Financial Performance Theoretical Background H1-1 (-) H1-3 (+)H1-5 (-)

Result Result of Hypothesis 2 23 / 14 HypothesesVerification H2-1 The gender role identity of boards can influence value centered performance. Reject H2-2 The gender role identity of boards can influence explicit governance Reject H2-3 The gender role identity of boards can influence implicit governance. Accept H2-4 The explicit governance can influence value centered performance Reject H2-5 The implicit governance can influence value centered performance Accept The structural relationship among gender role identity of boards, co-operative governance and value centered performance

Hypothesis 2 24 / 14 Gender Role Identity of Boards Explicit Governance Implicit Governance Value centered Performance Theoretical Background H2-3 (+) H2-5 (+)

Conclusion 25 / 14 1) The gender role identity of boards affected their governance and performance significantly. ☞ Androgyny made their activities energetically and increased member’s participation. 2) The growth of female-dominated consumer co-operative can promote the woman’s participation in economic and social activities. 3) The research can promote further studies of co-operatives because the present research might be the first empirical research to analyze gender-conscious boards.

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