Perception analysis of fisheries and agricultural credit cooperative members regarding cooperatives

This research is one of the rare studies that aims to examine the perceptions of the members of Fisheries Cooperatives and Agricultural Credit Cooperatives on cooperatives together. The demographic, socio-cultural and socio-economic conditions of the members of cooperatives, their demands from cooperatives and their perceptions of cooperatives, which are among the pioneers of horizontal organisation in civil society organisations, were examined. A scale consisting of multiple choice and Likert type questions was used in the study. The data obtained from the research were analysed by descriptive and logistic regression methods. It was determined that the average age of the members of Fishery Cooperatives was 49.170+9.884 and the average age of the members of Agricultural Credit Cooperatives was 48.448+10.037. While there were no members with postgraduate education among both Fishery Cooperative members and Agricultural Credit Cooperative members, 0.8% of Fishery Cooperative members and 4% of Agricultural Credit Cooperative members were bachelor's degree holders, 33% of Fishery Cooperative members and 39% of Agricultural Credit Cooperative members were high school graduates. It was found that education level, years of cooperative membership, purpose of using the internet, and additional income had an effect on the members definition of their “financial situation”, while the belief that “the main purpose of cooperatives is not to make profit” was negatively affected by reading the cooperative agreement and additional income, and the age of cooperative members also negatively affected the belief that “bureaucracy negatively affects cooperative activities”. Due to the characteristics of their products, it was found that the members of the Fishery Cooperative were concerned about the sale of products and both cooperative members complained about the high cost of service procurement.