Workers buyout cooperatives: A structured literature review and a research agenda

Abstract

This article aims to present and discuss the results of a systematic literature review on workers buyout (WBO) cooperatives. More specifically the authors analyzed 44 documents, comprising 29 journal articles and 15 book chapters published up to December 2022 based on the ‘5Ws and 1H’ (who-what-where-when-why and how) questions. The findings show that the authors of these documents mostly focused on the definition of cooperatives, and the triggers of the operation, while stages of the decision-making and implementation process are rarely investigated, in particular those following the constitution of the WBO cooperative. Avenues for further research are then presented and discussed at the level of a single cooperative, country/market and policy maker. Lastly, the article provides a useful operational reference for implementing a WBO operation.