THE MODERATING EFFECT OF MEMBERS’ PARTICIPATION ON A RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN CORPORATE GOVERNANCES AND ORGANIZATIONAL PERFORMANCES OF COOPERATIVE UNIONS IN ETHIOPIAN AGRICULTURAL COOPERATIVES

Governances of cooperative organizations are primarily acknowledged as very critical determinant factors of organizational successes in various literatures. However, moderating effect of members’ participation on the relationship between corporate governances and organizational performances of cooperatives has received less attention from the researchers. Therefore, in this study, we studied the effects of corporate governance and members’ participation on organizational performances and their interactions in Ethiopian agricultural cooperative unions. Using resources dependence theory (RDT), the study hypothezed whether members’ participation moderates the impact of corporate governance on organizational performances. A quantitative approach was employed to examine the relationship. For this end, quantitative data were collected from 377 members of the unions using structured questionnaire. Structural equation modeling with AMOS 23 was used to examine the moderating effect of members’ participation on the relationship between dimensions of corporate governances and organizational performances in agricultural cooperative unions in Ethiopia. The study indicated that there is strong and positive relationship between the corporate governances and organizational performances in terms of social, operations, and financial performances. Similarly, the relationship between members’ participation and the indicators of organizational performances are positive and significant. However, the moderating effect of members’ participation is not significant at p value of 0.05, but at 0.01, in this study.