MEMBERS’ ATTITUDE ON GOOD GOVERNANCE IN PRIMARY AGRICULTURAL MULTIPURPOSE COOPERATIVES IN BAKO TIBE DISTRICT, WEST SHOWA ZONE, OROMIA REGIONAL STATE OF ETHIOPIA

Abstract

Attitude is a hypothetical construct used to explain the direction and persistence of human behaviour. It provides a convenient and efficient way to summarize, explain, and predict behaviour. This study explored members’ attitudes toward good governance in their Multipurpose Cooperatives in Bako Tibe District, West Showa Zone, Oromia Regional State. The objectives of the research included describing the demographic and socio-economic characteristics of respondents, assessing members’ attitudes toward their cooperatives' performance, and analyzing the variables influencing members’ attitudes. A total of 159 sample respondents (145 male and 44 female) were selected, with six focus group discussions (FGDs) and one key informant interview (KII) conducted. Primary data were collected from the sample respondents, FGDs, and KIIs.As to demographic and socio-economic characteristics of respondents, the descriptive statistics result showed that the majority of the respondents attained middle age category, most of them were male respondents, and most had social participation only with farmers’ association with low level of exposure to mass media. Regarding occupation, most respondents adapted to agriculture, and almost all opined that cooperatives were not service as a source of borrowing. Regarding the members’ attitudes towards their cooperatives' performance, most of the members' respondents have negative attitudes towards their performance. Besides, the Logistic Regression Model showed that social participation, duration of cooperative membership, understanding of cooperatives, motivation, and knowledge about cooperatives have a statistically significant positive effect on the members’ attitude towards their cooperatives at a P-value of less than 0.05. In contrast, land size has a statistically significant negative effect at a p-value of less than 0.05. Therefore, social, economic, and psycho-behavioural variables were the most influential variables in members’ attitudes towards their cooperatives, which influenced good governance.