Corporate social responsibility and organizational commitment in agricultural cooperatives: evidence from Iran

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the corporate social responsibility (CSR) and organizational commitment (OC) in agricultural cooperatives of Iran. The study’s research model is tested through a survey consulting 260 respondents. The method of data collection is using the standard questionnaire of corporate social responsibility (CSR) based on the Carol model and organizational commitment (OC) based on the Allen-Meyer model. Data validity was confirmed by Bartlett test and KMO coefficient and its reliability was confirmed by Cronbach’s alpha. The statistical population of this study was the agricultural cooperatives with managed by the Rural Cooperative Organization (RCO) of Isfahan Province in Iran. The results of this research showed that from the members’ viewpoint, the highest corporate social responsibility was in the legal dimension and the lowest was in the discretionary dimension as based on the Carol model. The research results show that the organizational commitment index of managers is nearly of 50%. The results of cluster analysis in the field of members ‘perception of cooperative social responsibility showed that the four variables such as: performance satisfaction, members’ participation in cooperative meetings, age and purpose of membership, predicts the members’ behavior in separating the cooperative into two groups with strong and weak the CSR. Also, the result of cluster analysis in board of director’s organizational commitment showed that the variables such as: level of education, management experience and belief in the non-interference of other institutions in cooperative management, predicts the board of directors organizational commitment behavior in separating into two strong and weak the OC. Recibido: 29 diciembre 2020Aceptado: 23 septiembre 2021