The firm as a common. The case of accumulation and use of common resources in mutual benefit organizations

Common resources are quasi-public resources, which are rivaled but non excludable in consumption or in appropriation. While the exploitation of common resources has been widely studied in the literature originated by Elinor Ostron’s works (starting from 1990), the study of common resources inside entrepreneurial organization in not sufficiently developed to date. This paper establishes three dimensions that highlight the relevance of the communality of resources in entrepreneurial organizations: the accumulation and use of common capital resources owned by the organization; the distribution of a rivaled, but non excludable value added among the controlling patrons; and the management of common non-owned resources (for example natural resources) by the organization. The first theme is selected and developed further. Cooperative firms are introduced are instance of ownership form that appears, historically and institutionally, to be particularly keen to accumulate, use, distribute common resources.common resources; rivalry; non-excludability; entrepreneurial organizations; accumulation; cooperative firms

A NEW FRAMEWORK FOR THE ECONOMIC ANALYSIS OF COOPERATIVE FIRMS: Self-defined rules, common resources, motivations, and incentives

Cooperatives are characterised by mutual-benefit coordination mechanisms aimed at the fulfilment of individual behaviour and outcomes in cooperatives by bringing together new-institutionalism, behavioural and evolutionary economics. Our framework considers four main dimensions of the governance of cooperative firms: (1) the development and application of self-defined rules by the members of the cooperative; (2) the management, and appropriation of common resources and outcomes; (3) intrinsic motivations and reciprocating behaviours; (4) the implementation of suitable incentive mixes based on inclusion and reciprocity, including both pecuniary and non- pecuniary elements. An example is offered in order to highlight possible problems in the governance of cooperative firms, in particular the processes of distribution and appropriation of surplus. The example aims at introducing the discussion of the new framework of analysis.cooperative firms, common resources, motivations, incentives

Satisfaction with creativity: a study of organisational characteristics and individual motivations

In answering the question of what influences satisfaction for creativity in the workplace, this work takes into account the extent to which the organization supports human aspiration to creativity. The empirical model uses survey data encompassing over 4,000 workers in Italian social enterprises. Results show that satisfaction for creativity is supported, at organizational level, by teamwork-oriented action, including the quality of processes, relations and on-the job autonomy. At the individual level, satisfaction for creativity is enhanced by the strength of intrinsic and socially oriented motivations and by competence. The analysis of interaction terms shows that teamwork and workers' intrinsic motivations are complementary in enhancing the perception of creativity-enhancing work settings, while a high degree of required competences appears to substitute good relationships with superiorscreativity, job satisfaction, organizational processes, motivations, teamwork,autonomy, interpersonal relations

If not for profit, for what and how? Interuniversity Attraction Pole (IAP) on Social Enterprise (SOCENT) 2012-2017 The Internal and External Governance of Cooperatives: Membership and Consistency of Values

ABSTRAC

Human resource management practices and organizational performance. The mediator role of immaterial satisfaction in Italian Social Cooperatives

The paper deals with the mediating role of immaterial satisfaction between substantive human resources (HR) features and organizational performance. We address this relationship in the Italian social service sector using a survey dataset that includes 4134 workers and 320 not-for-profit social cooperatives. The obtained results show that human resource management (HRM) practices influence immaterial satisfaction and, satisfaction positively impacts on firm performance. However, the impact of the different HRM practices is not the same. In this sense, worker involvement and workload pressure have a positive impact on firm performance; but task autonomy or collaborative teamwork do not have impact on organizational performance

A comparative institutional approach to co-operative self-finance: locked assets, divisible and indivisible reserves

This paper approaches from a law and economics perspective the problem of self-financed accumulation of capital in co-operative enterprises. Different existing and past institutional systems are discussed and lessons drawn on how to improve existing institutional structures. Divisibility and indivisibility of self-financed capital reserves, as they can pave the way to improved systematic solutions, in co-operatives are used as heuristic ports of entry in the discussion. In this, institutional evolution is interpreted as a trial and error and open-ended process. National and regional institutional systems (especially the Italian, the Spanish and the former Yugoslav ones) are considered and evaluated in terms of strengths and weaknesses to extrapolate new institutional solutions that would allow to overcome well-known weaknesses in co-operatives’ financial structure. A nested system of self-financed divisible and indivisible reserves of capital is proposed. Different typologies of reserves would serve different aims and functions in the working of the capital structure of the co-operative enterprise, especially balancing patrimonial stability, allocative efficiency, members’ financial involvement and performance. Correct legal regulation plays a fundamental role in steering the survival and reproduction potential of the co-operative system

The firm as a common. The case of the accumulation and use of capital resources in co-operative enterprises

Contemporary literature dealing with the governance of the exploitation of common-pool natural resources was initiated by Elinor Ostrom in 1990, and has been growing fast ever since. On the contrary, within the same research stream, the study of the presence and economic role of common resources in entrepreneurial-organizational is, to date, under-researched. This work endeavours some attempt to fill this gap by: first, spelling out a new-institutionalist framework for the analysis of the accumulation and governance of common capital resources within organizational boundaries; second, by considering co-operative enterprises as the organizational form that, on the basis of historical record, and of behavioural and institutional characteristics, demonstrated to be the most compatible with a substantial role for common and non-divided asset-ownership and with its governance thereof. The economic forces influencing the optimal level of self-financed common capital resources in co-operatives are enquired. Also their governance is brought under the spotlight, evidencing: (i) the constraints that need to be fulfilled, and the potential benefits arising out of their presence; (ii) the compatibility and mutual adaptability between democratic governance in co-operatives and the governance of non-divided assets

A human growth perspective on sustainable HRM practices, worker well-being and organizational performance

Care services pose new challenges and opportunities for the implementation of sustainable HRM practices related to worker involvement and well-being because of their relational nature. The article is framed in terms of the job demands and resources model and discusses the impact of sustainable HRM (SHRM) practices on organizational performance in terms of service quality and organizational innovation in social and care services. A possible mediating role of immaterial satisfaction between SHRM and performance is also considered. We use national survey data including 4134 workers in 310 matched nonprofit social enterprises in Italy. The results show that HRM practices linked to task autonomy, teamwork, and involvement positively influence immaterial satisfaction, while at the same time immaterial satisfaction and HRM features related to involvement and workload support performance. The mediating role of immaterial satisfaction is not confirmed, but its effect adds positively to involvement in improving performance. This work contributes to the literature on organizational performance and HRM sustainability, which are particularly important in the face of ongoing social change and organizational innovation in social and relational service delivery.This research was funded by the CaRiPLo Foundation and by the Italian Ministry for Scientific Research (MIUR)

Corporate social responsibility is just a twist in a Möbius Strip: An empirical test on Italian cooperatives.

In order to devise a new cost-benefit function, in this work we apply in a Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) context the electro-magnetism geometrical model of the Möbius Strip, which analyzes how the moves of electrons produce energy. Similarly to the case of electrons tunneling in the strip, we highlight three positive crossed effects on firm performance originating from: i) cooperation within the same group of stakeholders; ii) cooperation between different groups of stakeholders; iii) stakeholders' loyalty towards the company. By applying this new cost-benefit function to a firms' decision making processes we evidence that investing in CSR activities is always convenient depending on the number of stakeholder groups, on stakeholders' sensitivity to CSR investments and on the decay rate to alienation. We test these findings through Structural Equation Modelling by exploiting a unique dataset including data on 4135 workers in a matched sample of 320 Italian social enterprises. Results show that CSR is, in all specifications of the model, the strongest determinant of firm performance in terms of improvement in service quality and worker achieved professional and personal growth. Direct effects of CSR on performance are added to indirect effects mediated by cooperation and reduced worker alienation in terms of higher job satisfaction

Corporate social responsibility is just a twist in a Möbius Strip: An empirical test on Italian cooperatives.

In order to devise a new cost-benefit function, in this work we apply in a Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) context the electro-magnetism geometrical model of the Möbius Strip, which analyzes how the moves of electrons produce energy. Similarly to the case of electrons tunneling in the strip, we highlight three positive crossed effects on firm performance originating from: i) cooperation within the same group of stakeholders; ii) cooperation between different groups of stakeholders; iii) stakeholders' loyalty towards the company. By applying this new cost-benefit function to a firms' decision making processes we evidence that investing in CSR activities is always convenient depending on the number of stakeholder groups, on stakeholders' sensitivity to CSR investments and on the decay rate to alienation. We test these findings through Structural Equation Modelling by exploiting a unique dataset including data on 4135 workers in a matched sample of 320 Italian social enterprises. Results show that CSR is, in all specifications of the model, the strongest determinant of firm performance in terms of improvement in service quality and worker achieved professional and personal growth. Direct effects of CSR on performance are added to indirect effects mediated by cooperation and reduced worker alienation in terms of higher job satisfaction