Effects of member size and selective incentives of agricultural cooperatives on product quality
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to analyse the effects of member size and external incentives (food safety certification and target market) on cooperative’s product quality, using data collected from 135 apple producing cooperatives in China.
Design/methodology/approach
Given that different indicator variables were used to measure apple quality, the authors employed a principle component analysis method to reduce the measurement dimension. An ordinary least square regression was employed to analyse the effects of member size and selective incentives of agricultural cooperatives on product quality.
Findings
The empirical results show that member size and cooperative’s product quality bear an inverse “U-shape” relationship, and food safety certification and target market variables tend to positively and significantly influence cooperative’s product quality. In particular, the cooperatives with more food safety certificates and targeting supermarkets and export enterprises are more likely to supply high-quality products.
Originality/value
This study provides the first attempt to measure apple quality and investigate the factors that influence cooperative’s product quality.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
The authors are grateful for the support from the National Natural Science Fund of China (71203088), Priority Academic Program Development of Jiangsu Higher Education Institutions (PAPD), and QingLan Project.
Citation
Cai, R., Ma, W. and Su, Y. (2016), "Effects of member size and selective incentives of agricultural cooperatives on product quality", British Food Journal, Vol. 118 No. 4, pp. 858-870. https://doi.org/10.1108/BFJ-11-2015-0456
Publisher
:Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2016, Emerald Group Publishing Limited