SOCIETAL VALUES IN GERMANY – AN ASPECT OF COOPERATIVE MANAGEMENT?

What is it about?

IN A CHANGING WORLD IN WHICH MEGATRENDS HAVE AN IMPACT ON FRAMEWORK CONDITIONS, VALUES CONVEY A SENSE OF ORIENTATION, SECURITY AND STABILITY. WITH THE HELP OF A SOLID BEDROCK OF VALUES, COMPANIES, INDIVIDUALS OR SOCIETIES, CAN LIKEWISE FACE THE CHAL-LENGES THESE MEGATRENDS PRESENT. COMPANIES WITH THE LEGAL FORM OF A COOPERATIVE CAN MAKE STRATEGIC USE OF VALUES TO ENHANCE THEIR UNIQUE SELLING POINTS. ALSO A SOLID BEDROCK OF VALUES CAN ENHANCE A COMPANY'S SUCCESS IN A SUSTAINABLE MANNER. GIVEN ITS NUMEROUS COOPERATIVES ALONG WITH THEIR MEMBERSHIP TOTALING SOME 22 MIL-LION, GERMANY IS SEEN AS A “COUNTRY OF COOPERATIVES”. THIS STUDY COVERS GERMAN SOCIE-TY AND PROVIDES INSIGHT INTO ITS VALUES AND ITS ATTITUDE TOWARDS COOPERATIVES. THREE KEY ISSUES ARE ANALYZED. WHICH VALUES SHAPE GERMAN SOCIETY? WHICH VALUES ARE ATTRIBUTED TO THE COOPERATIVE AS A FORM OF ENTERPRISE? TO WHAT EXTENT ARE THERE SIM-ILARITIES OR DIFFERENCES BETWEEN THE SOCIETAL AND COOPERATIVE VALUES IN THEIR RANK-INGS? THE RESULTS ARE BASED ON AN ONLINE SURVEY OF THE GERMAN POPULATION THAT WAS CONDUCTED IN NOVEMBER 2017, (N=1,008). A SEMANTIC DIFFERENTIAL WAS USED TO DEPICT CONVERGENCES AND DEVIATIONS. LIBERTY CON-STITUTED THE BIGGEST DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE SOCIETAL AND COOPERATIVE VALUES. THE STATISTICAL ANALYSES PRODUCED THE FOLLOWING RESULTS: THERE ARE SIGNIFICANT DIF-FERENCES BETWEEN THE SOCIETAL AND COOPERATIVE VALUE IN TERMS OF GENDER AND AGE STRUCTURE. WOMEN RATE VALUES AS BEING MORE IMPORTANT FOR THEM PERSONALLY BUT ALSO IN CONJUNCTION WITH COOPERATIVES THAN MEN. GENERATION Y IS SHAPED BY CONCEPTS OF VALUES THAT DIFFER FROM THOSE OF OTHER GENERATIONS.

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