REVESCO. Revista de Estudios Cooperativos

Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI) through technology: implications for international market orientation in agribusiness cooperatives

María Isabel Sánchez Hernández — 2025-05-14

Incorporating new technologies into cooperatives is pivotal for both Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI) in these organizations and their internationalization. RRI has particular prominence in the European research policy landscape, offering a sustainability framework aimed at harmonizing economic, socio-cultural, and environmental dimensions within current innovation paradigms. Despite the growing importance of RRI, there is still a dearth of literature on its application within the cooperative sector. Focusing on Spain's foremost agribusiness cooperatives, this study seeks to establish a comprehensive measurement scale for RRI with a specific emphasis on technological integration, which is then used to evaluate the correlation between RRI and these enterprises' international market orientation. To that end, we apply Structural Equation Modelling to data sourced from a questionnaire administered to 60 managers selected from the 100 most reputable cooperatives in the country. Our empirical findings show that agribusiness cooperatives actively promote technology adoption among members, facilitate technology development processes, and embrace open innovation strategies to exhibit heightened international market orientation. These insights should not only drive agro-industry practitioners to prioritize technology adoption but should also encourage policymakers to accelerate the technological advancement of the economy.

Effective corporate taxation of cooperatives: assessment and quantification of tax benefits for the Spanish case

Miguel Ángel Vázquez Taín — 2025-06-09

Cooperative societies, as the main entities within the Social Economy, benefit from a specific tax framework theoretically designed to support their development and expansion. This study examines whether the current tax benefits fulfil their purpose of fostering the growth and competitiveness of these entities, identifying existing limitations and proposing recommendations to improve their tax regime. To this end, it reviews the applicable tax benefits (such as tax base reductions, tax credits and reduced tax rates), quantifies their impact and compares the results with those of other business structures using indicators such as the Effective Tax Rate. The results reveal that these benefits are unevenly distributed, mainly favouring larger cooperatives, while smaller cooperatives hardly benefit at all. Moreover, the overall impact of the fiscal framework is modest and does not serve as a significant driver of the sector's competitiveness. The article concludes by calling for a debate on the validity and scope of the differentiated tax regime, recommending its reform to make it more effective in supporting cooperative societies.

Tracking the evolution of Social Accounting: intellectual milestones, key debates and research challenges ahead

Ali Faiz — 2025-06-30

We aim to analyze the intellectual structure, in other words, the cited references included in the citing papers that deal with social accounting, clustering them and highlighting those papers that can be considered to be either turning points (the backbone of social accounting, those that allowed the dissemination of this field of knowledge) or burst papers (those that receive a high number of citations in a short period of time). A co-citation bibliometric analysis was conducted, using CiteSpace to study the intellectual structure–24,176 cited references–contained in the 408 papers published in journals indexed in the Social Science Citation Index and in the Emerging Sources Citation Index. The study identifies twelve clusters that comprise the intellectual structure of social accounting. The results provide an overall perspective on social accounting in terms of networks and their connections, identify the most influential research areas and describe the composition of the sub-disciplines that evolved. Furthermore, papers that can be regarded as turning points are identified, as well as those that received a significant number of citations over a particular time. A research agenda is also included to help scholars to keep on analysing this increasing field of knowledge, which is being implemented in many companies when monetising social value creation. The research should be mainly focused on the standardisation of processes for identifying and accounting for social value, particularly in monetary units.

Digital Transformation and accessibility in Spanish Cooperative Banking: a study on the performance of their Websites

Yakira Fernández-Torres — 2025-07-14

Digitalization is an exponentially evolving process that has accelerated over the past 20 years, with particularly intense development in recent years. Financial institutions have had to adapt to this transformation to meet customer demands for fast, efficient access to financial services with an optimal user experience. This study focuses on proximity banking, using the cooperative banking sector as a reference due to its mutual ownership structure, predominantly retail nature, and strong territorial ties. Specifically, the 60 credit cooperatives operating in Spain as of December 31, 2022, were analyzed in order to characterize the services offered through their websites by examining their content. Based on a 115-item questionnaire, a statistical analysis was conducted to identify both the strengths of these websites—such as segmentation, communication channels, product offerings, and security—and the areas needing improvement, including the implementation of artificial intelligence, user identity recognition, and insufficient accessibility for people with disabilities, among others.

Liminal identity in the cooperative organization: A systematic literature review and future research agenda

Julieth Alzate — 2025-07-31

This study delves into the liminal state of cooperative organization. As a category from processual anthropology, liminality is used to analyze the identity phenomena in the field of organizational studies. This review has been guided by the purpose of providing a global overview of the literature concerning cooperative identity from the approach of organizational identity in the liminal state and its phases. The review is conducted in two major stages: heuristic and hermeneutic, which are divided into five moments of Denyer & Tranfield's protocol. For data collection and analysis, this work is supported by the use of tools such as PRISMA statement, Mendeley, ATLAS.ti, and VOSviewer. After analyzing the literature, four broad groups of results emerge: 1) A scoping review presenting the theories, methods, geographies and problems most addressed in the literature, which suggest that cooperative identity is a device for preserving the sector, for governance and social transformation; up to its legalistic and functionalist role for efficiency. 2) The common categories between liminal identity and cooperative identity, based on the three phases of the liminal state: separation, transition, and aggregation. 3) The gap in the literature and its relationship with the interdisciplinary dimension of identity: philosophy, psychology, sociology, management, and anthropology. 4) A consolidation of the future research agenda, highlighting cooperative identity in relation to contemporary technological and social revolutions, the global agenda, among others. Finally, the findings support the premise of the liminal phenomenon in cooperatives and how that has experienced an entropic and liminal state characterized by discrepancies, ambiguity, and indeterminacy inherent in the paradox of the dual nature of cooperative organizations and the current macrostructural context. The reviewed literature revealed that other authors have been interested in studying phenomena implicitly related to one phase of liminality, that is, the process of transition between old and new cooperative identity. Then, some claims for new cooperative identities have shifted the financial–social balance.

Collaborative Housing: a bibliometric analysis of global patterns and trends in scientific research

Inmaculada Heras Robles — 2025-08-18

The article examines the evolution and impact of scientific production on collaborative housing through a bibliometric approach. The use of quantitative statistical methods of data visualization aims to strategically reveal the historical development of fields of subject, patterns of authors, the most relevant journals and their impact indexes, as well as the main themes and their temporal evolution. First, a systematic review of the Scopus database was carried out following the PRISMA statement. Secondly, with the selected articles, data processing was carried out using the Bibliometrix package of the R software and its Biblioshiny graphical interface. The results of the 223 selected articles show a slow but steady growth of publications and a multidisciplinary interest. Bradford's distribution shows that a dozen scientific publications account for most of the production. The key role of female authorships stands out, both in terms of productivity and impact. The strategic diagram shows the current and future lines of research. The driving themes show three widely developed and key lines for collaborative housing: sustainability, housing policy and collaborative housing for older adults or senior cohousing. Shared housing and covid-19 are currently basic issues, but due to their development they are very close to consolidating themselves as a driving force.

Success factors in management indicators for social, solidarity and sustainable social ventures

Armando Guananga Quishpe — 2025-08-21

Social and solidarity economy enterprises constituted predominantly as cooperatives and associations have a growing trend in Ecuador, proving to be an important alternative for a population excluded from the formal labor market. However, these initiatives also show low levels of sustainability, mainly due to weak management capacity affected by scarce knowledge and lack of management tools to promote their permanence and organizational consolidation. The importance of the development of this type of entrepreneurship has forged important research on success factors, leaving a knowledge gap in its practical application. To address this limitation, the present research aims to define management indicators for social and solidarity-based entrepreneurship under a management methodology that allows the integration of success factors. The research is developed through a systemic documentary review and the application of the Delphi method to consolidate the criteria of 20 managers of associations and cooperatives in the process of consolidation of the enterprise. The results show the importance of basing the management of social and solidarity entrepreneurship under a social perspective, where the indicators of collective work, labor integration, institutional relations and environmental protection allow the consolidation of a social capital that promotes a sustainable economic activity.

Financial inclusion and savings and loan cooperatives in Mexico

Graciela Lara Gómez — 2025-09-08

The aim of this article is to outline the legal framework and public policies that underpin the participation of savings and loan cooperatives in financial inclusion strategies in Mexico. The analysis is grounded in a theoretical approach that posits access to and use of financial services as key factors in mitigation inequality and poverty among vulnerable populations. Using the exegetical method, this study analyzes the legal mechanisms, institutional frameworks, and regulatory applications that structure the operation of savings and credit cooperatives, in the context of financial inclusion. It also examines public policies and evaluates the progress made in addressing financial exclusion. The findings of this research indicate that cooperatives, by virtue of their mission rooted in solidarity and mutual support, are particularly well-positioned to implement initiatives aimed at eliminating financial exclusion. The study reaffirms that financial education, a legal framework that ensures security and legal certainty, as well as the integration of technological infrastructure in remote areas, are essential components for achieving the broader objective of promoting financial inclusion across the population.

Influence of the political party governing a territory in the progress of measures related to the Sustainable Development Goals. Comparative study in Spain

Marta Gil Ibáñez — 2025-09-08

Public policies are essential in advancing the implementation of laws that favour the fulfilment of the tenth Sustainable Development Goal (SDG): the reduction of inequalities. In Spain there have been changes in the social and economic inequalities of its inhabitants, although the evolution has not been the same in all territories. This study relates the evolution of indicators of gender equality, quality of education, people with disabilities and immigrants, and poverty according to the territory and its rulers. Specifically, it seeks to determine whether or not there is a relationship between the differentiated evolution between territories and the political party in power. To this end, a statistical clustering method has been implemented. As a main conclusion, no relationship between both variables has been detected, registering similar evolutions in territories governed by political parties of different ideology.

Corporate Governance in Cooperatives: a look at publications, trends, and relevance

Jairo Alfonso Becerra Arévalo — 2025-09-08

This article presents the results of a bibliometric and documentary analysis, its evolution and trends, on corporate governance in the solidarity sector, with an emphasis on cooperatives, during the period 1995-2024. The research is based on the analysis of documents indexed in the Web of Science (WoS) and Scopus databases, constructing indicators of productivity, impact and structure using data analysis tools such as Excel, VOSviewer and the Bibliometrix package in R. The results show a growing academic interest in the study of corporate governance in solidarity sector organisations, with an increase in academic productivity, a wide dispersion and dissemination among authors and journals, as well as a diversity of analytical-oriented approaches, where the role of boards of directors in the processes of cooperative organisations and the use of mainly quantitative approaches for their analysis, and the application of mathematical-statistical models in measuring corporate governance decisions in cooperatives are relevant. The study concludes that, despite advances in the scientific study of corporate governance in cooperatives, it remains a developing field of study, with theoretical and methodological gaps, which represents an opportunity for future research.