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AbstractThe article discusses the development of agricultural cooperatives in Kyrgyzstan from an entrepreneurial ecosystem (EE) perspective. Agricultural development priorities explain cooperatives' importance in Kyrgyz government's policies, but cooperatives still fail at countering the challenges of the smallholder economy. Considering agricultural cooperatives as a form of rural entrepreneurship, this paper aims to contribute to the discussion of the factors that support cooperatives in developing countries adapting the EE framework to cooperative entrepreneurship. Using a content analysis method, we analysed and coded textual data from documentary and archival publications on the agricultural cooperatives in Kyrgyzstan published by the government, cooperatives and their unions and the reports of international organizations. We identify five main dimensions of the cooperative entrepreneurial ecosystem for cooperatives: (1) policy and regulatory framework; (2) education and skills; (3) market environment; (4) culture; (5) networks. We found that even if the overall structure of cooperatives' EE can be comparable to conventional enterprises, its sub‐elements significantly differ for cooperative enterprises. Despite its exploratory character and single‐case research design, this article contributes to the theoretical discussion on cooperative entrepreneurial ecosystems in post‐socialist developing contexts and offers a framework of analysis for cooperative development policies and practices.

Agricultural cooperatives play an important role in promoting local communities and sustainable farming practices in many parts of the world. In Kyrgyzstan their development remains a challenge despite the existence of laws and policies, support from donor-funded projects and the existence of an apex organisation. What is missing for their development and who should lead their development? Adopting an entrepreneurial ecosystem (EE) approach to the analysis of the agricultural cooperatives, we aim to identify the lead actors of the agricultural cooperatives' development in Kyrgyzstan and understand what roles such a lead actor plays in the emergence and strengthening of an EE for agricultural cooperatives. Adopting a case study approach, we retrieved archival data published between 1991 and 2020 on agricultural cooperatives in Kyrgyzstan, that included documents from government, cooperatives and their apex organisations, and studies commissioned by international organisations. We reviewed data using a grounded theory approach and organised our codes and text excerpts around the EE elements and actors. Thereby, we identify what roles the three principal actors of cooperative development, namely government, cooperatives and their apex organisation, and international organisations, play in different EE dimensions – i.e., policy, skills and education, market environment, culture, networks and partnerships. Among others, we uncover that the lead actor varies across EE dimensions and the paradox, where expectations of the government and cooperatives' are inadequate to their funding abilities; while international organisations, that could fund cooperatives' development, do not consider them as a priority in their projects. Although the study has limitations due to its exploratory nature, we offer both theoretical contribution extending entrepreneurial ecosystem approach to the study of agricultural cooperatives in transition economies and practical implications for better understanding and integrating agricultural cooperatives in the international development programming. ; Peer reviewed

Charitable giving is a research topic that has largely been addressed in the U.S.-context. However, there exist only very few studies on Belgian donating behavior. This paper aims to fill this gap using a combination of fiscal, demographic and political data. OLS regressions and Fixed effects regressions are performed and show a positive effect of age and income on the probability to donate. In addition, age and income increase the average donation amount, whereas gender and declaring jointly tend to decrease it. Further, the region and the political party to which belongs the mayor of the municipality in which one lives also affect the likelihood of charitable giving and the donated amount. This paper has implications both for researchers and charity practitioners. The latter are likely to pay attention to the factors that increase the probability to donate and the average donated amount, especially in times of economic crises as charities may rely less and less on the state to cover their financial resource needs. ; Peer reviewed

AbstractThe centrality of user‐members in cooperatives and cooperatives' embeddedness in their community and in a global network influence positively their resilience in times of crisis, as illustrated by cases of cooperatives that acted entrepreneurially during the COVID‐19 crisis. Cooperatives are hybrid organizations that maximize value, instead of profit. They are owned, governed, and controlled by their members. They are more resilient than the conventional enterprises in times of crisis, thanks to their peculiar governance characteristics that ensure member centrality. Next to member centrality, the embeddedness of cooperatives in their local environment and a global movement enhances mission centrality as well as trust and solidarity among their members, local communities, and other cooperatives.

This article contributes to understanding the role and position of worker cooperatives in society, providing a socio-political explanation to their existence as well as conceptual tools that can be used to imagine and implement economic democracy practices. It uses and complexifies Habermas's social theory and its separation between system and lifeworld to show that cooperatives may act, intentionally and idealistically, at the interface of these two domains. This positioning enables cooperatives to participate in resisting colonization of the lifeworld by endowing individuals with resources favouring communicative action and by redefining institutional arrangements within the system. This article identifies factors explaining the varying degrees of resistance to colonization by cooperatives. It also contributes to theorizing the potential effects of organizing work in an economically democratic way.

This article contributes to understanding the role and position of worker cooperatives in society, providing an socio-political explanation to their existence as well as conceptual tools that can be used to imagine and implement economic democracy practices. It uses and complexifies Habermas' social theory and its separation between system and lifeworld to show that cooperatives may act, intentionally and idealistically, at the interface of these two domains. This positioning enables cooperatives to participate in resisting colonisation of the lifeworld by endowing individuals with resources favouring communicative action and by redefining institutional arrangements within the system. This article identifies factors explaining the varying degrees of resistance to colonisation by cooperatives. It also contributes to theorising the potential effects of organizing work in an economically democratic way. ; Peer reviewed

How are identities of alternative forms of organization constructed and how does this process differ relative to normative forms socially expected? In this research we consider identity formation in co-operatives, a population of organizations allied globally through values and practices such as democratic participation, voluntary and open membership, and limited return to capital investment. As an extension of current thinking on identity formation in entrepreneurship and organizational theory, we use co-operatives to explore social expectations and institutional arrangements around form at the societal, population, and organizational levels using a population ecology framework. We develop a research agenda based on propositions that address specific features of identity formation in less typical forms of organization, including tensions with normative business expectations, engagement with identity audiences, embeddedness in networks and alliances, structural factors influencing identity, and identity ambiguity. ; Peer reviewed