Record Details

Replication Data for: Tremblay and Waring cooperation study

Harvard Dataverse (Africa Rice Center, Bioversity International, CCAFS, CIAT, IFPRI, IRRI and WorldFish)

View Archive Info
 
 
Field Value
 
Title Replication Data for: Tremblay and Waring cooperation study
 
Identifier https://doi.org/10.7910/DVN/9WPVEY
 
Creator Waring, Timothy
 
Publisher Harvard Dataverse
 
Description This dataset and R analysis code is part of a research study on cooperation in the local food industry and in local food organizations in Maine. The research is funded in part by the University of Maine, National Science Foundation CAREER award SES-1352361, and USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture, Hatch project # ME021515. These files are made available for transparency and reproducability.
DRAFT PAPER ABSTRACT

Growing consumer interest in local food has driven an increase in the number and variety of organizations producing, selling, distributing, and working with local food in New England, including farmers markets, community supported agriculture (CSA), and food hubs. One local food organization is the consumer food cooperative. Scholars have argued that the preferences some consumers hold for beneficial social outcomes in addition to personal gain may influence the success of various organizations and business models, and effect market evolution. We investigate the possibility that prosocial and cooperative behavior may in part underlie the rise of new organizational forms and the growth of the local food economy.

All organizations must overcome social dilemmas and collective action problems using cooperation or coordination to remain viable. But organizations also vary in structure, composition and circumstance, with some requiring greater levels of individual cooperation than others. In contrast to many organizational types, consumer food cooperatives are explicitly focused on the cooperative action of members and include features, such as collective decision-making, which are known to support cooperation. However, organizational influences on human cooperation have not been measured experimentally. We hypothesize that consumer food cooperatives will attract or create greater levels of generalized cooperation than conventional grocery stores.

To test this hypothesis, we conducted an experimental dictator game to measure cooperation among consumers at a food cooperative and a comparable conventional grocery. Results show that cooperative customers exhibit a higher base rate of cooperation than similar conventional food shoppers. Multiple regression reveals that the relationship holds even when taking individual demographic factors such as income, education, and age into account. We argue that the organizational structure of consumer food cooperatives may increase realized prosocial attitudes and economic cooperation.
 
Subject Business and Management
Social Sciences
Other
cooperation
prosociality
local food
food co-op
experimental economics
dictator game
sustainability
 
Language English
 
Contributor Waring, Timothy
 
Type survey responses and dictator game contributions.