Desempenho econômico e participação social em cooperativas agropecuárias do Rio Grande do Sul

Abstract

This research has the purpose to analyze the agricultural cooperatives of Rio Grande do Sul, in relation to factors associated with social participation in management structures. We tested four models of multiple linear regression, with economic and financial variables as explanations for social and associates' participation in decision making structures. Two models had the best goodness of fit. In one model, the variables were "Net Margin" and "Liquidity", explaining about 53% of the variation in attending the Annual General Meeting. In another model, the variables considered were the "Index of Kanitz," the "number of members" and the variable distribution of net surpluses "as a dummy. These variables explained 44% of the variation in participation. The results of the betas of the variables in the first model indicate a significant direct relationship between net margins (p-value = 0,011579) and participation and a significant inverse association between current liquidity (p-value = 0,012912) and participation. This result suggests that the participation of members is influenced differently by economic and financial aspects. In the second model, the index showed a significant negative coefficient Kanitz (p-value = 0,012018), indicating an inverse relationship between the index and participation. The coefficients of variables "number of members" and "distribution of net surpluses" were not statistically significant at 5%. However, it is emphasized that the “number of members” is negatively associated with participation while “distribution of surplus” is directly associated.