Analysing the links between cooperative principles, entrepreneurial orientation and performance

Cooperatives are enterprises characterised by certain principles, such as cooperation, democratic decision-making, and training that define their entrepreneurial behaviours. Several of these cooperative principles appear to exert a positive influence on the performance of these firms and on the three dimensions that define the entrepreneurial orientation of companies: proactiveness, innovativeness, and risk-taking. This study builds a theoretical model that relates cooperative principles, entrepreneurial orientation, and performance from the perspective of corporate governance and human resource management practices, in order to study the links that may exist between these elements. Using data from a survey on 155 worker cooperatives in the Basque Country (Spain) and applying the partial least squares technique, we find that cooperative principles positively affect the performance of cooperatives, both directly and via entrepreneurial orientation.