The switching behaviour of Finnish co-operative members in relation to their commitment and loyalty

Social capital is one of the most crucial factors determining the effectiveness of operations in a cooperative organisation. When membership of a cooperative decreases, the financial capital also decreases. An important asset of cooperatives is the commitment and loyalty of their members. Farmers who never switch from one agricultural cooperative organisation to another one or an IOF can be assumed to be highly committed members. Using the ZIP model, this study investigated members’ switching behaviour with respect to five different factors and their links to loyalty.