Group Cohesion for Enhanced Operation of Agricultural Community-Based Projects in Gauteng Province, South Africa
- B. Taruvinga
- P. Ndou
- C. P. du Plooy
- K. Mphafi
- I. N. Hlerema
- R. Seturumane
Abstract
Collective operation of smallholder farmers and cooperatives has been attributed to many mishaps and malfunctions. Such knowledge creates misperceptions regarding agricultural cooperatives and their usefulness in development. This study investigated member commitment, group cohesion and membership retention in agricultural production cooperatives. The main aim was to identify possible practical measures for enhanced performance and increased sustainability in farmer organizations. Data was collected from 92 participants that were currently operating as cooperative members. A combination of descriptive statistics, Perceived Cohesion (PC) and Binary Logistic Regression methods were employed for analysis. Results of the study indicate that group cohesion is influenced by trust among members, internal communication, financial performance of the cooperative, involvement of members in decision making, and role of the organization in the community. Strategies for increased group cohesion that were recommended in the study include information sharing and transparency at all levels of operation, and collective decision making and planning in organizations.
- Full Text:
PDF
- DOI:10.5539/jas.v13n5p161
Journal Metrics
- h-index: 67
- i10-index: 839
- WJCI (2022): 1.220
- WJCI Impact Factor: 0.263
Index
- AGRICOLA
- AGRIS
- BASE (Bielefeld Academic Search Engine)
- Berkeley Library
- CAB Abstracts
- CiteFactor
- CiteSeerx
- CNKI Scholar
- Copyright Clearance Center
- CrossRef
- DESY Publication Database
- DTU Library
- EBSCOhost
- Elektronische Zeitschriftenbibliothek (EZB)
- Excellence in Research for Australia (ERA)
- Genamics JournalSeek
- Google Scholar
- Harvard Library
- IDEAS
- Index Copernicus
- Jisc Library Hub Discover
- JournalTOCs
- LIVIVO (ZB MED)
- LOCKSS
- Max Planck Institutes
- Mendeley
- MIAR
- Mir@bel
- NLM Catalog PubMed
- Norwegian Centre for Research Data (NSD)
- OAJI
- Open J-Gate
- OUCI
- PKP Open Archives Harvester
- Polska Bibliografia Naukowa
- Qualis/CAPES
- RefSeek
- RePEc
- ROAD
- ScienceOpen
- Scilit
- SCiNiTO
- Semantic Scholar
- SHERPA/RoMEO
- Southwest-German Union Catalogue
- Standard Periodical Directory
- Stanford Libraries
- SUDOC
- Technische Informationsbibliothek (TIB)
- Trove
- UCR Library
- Ulrich's
- UniCat
- Universe Digital Library
- WorldCat
- WorldWideScience
- WRLC Catalog
- Zeitschriften Daten Bank (ZDB)
Contact
- Anne BrownEditorial Assistant
- jas@ccsenet.org