The Influence of the “Co-operative Difference” on Job Satisfaction: A Personalist Humanistic Management Perspective

Theoretical background: In contemporary debates on co-operative identity, a concept of ‘co-operative difference’, understood as the difference between co-operatives and other types of entities resulting from the specific organisational form of co-operatives as opposed to other types of entities and the grounding of their activities in co-operative values and principles, is repeatedly mentioned. However, so far there is a lack of research on the impact of the ‘co-operative difference’ on employee attitudes. This is surprising, as employees are key in sustaining the co-operative identity. Purpose of the article: The aim of the article is to examine the impact of the ‘co-operative difference’ on job satisfaction. Out of the many variables that can influence the sense of ‘co-operative difference’, this article focuses on local embeddedness (LE) and employee participation (EP). Research methods: The research hypotheses formulated on the basis of personalist humanistic management were verified using data on more than 1,500 employees from 42 Polish co-operative banks (CBs) collected in 2017. Using two-level linear regression models, the direct effect and the interaction effect of LE and EP on job satisfaction was examined. Main findings: Both LE and EP have a positive impact on job satisfaction at CBs. However, the results of interaction between LE and EP are surprising. The impact of LE on satisfaction is, as expected, insignificant for very low EP values and positive for moderate EP values. Nevertheless, when EP takes on high values, the impact is again insignificant. This result could show that employees focus primarily on human resource management practices (like EP) and care less about the local community orientation of their employer.