Influence of Cultural Factors on Age of Cooperative in Imo State.

Abstract

This study investigated influence of cultural factors on age of cooperative societies in Imo State. The specific objective of the study is to assess various cultural factors as they affect the age of cooperative societies in Imo State. The research study adopted the descriptive survey design. The target population of this study included the management committee of all the cooperative societies in Imo State totaling about 14,000 societies. A multistage sampling technique was adopted in the selection of location and cooperative societies. In stage one, five local government areas each were randomly selected from the three senatorial zones (15 L.G.As). Secondly, within the local government areas, ten cooperative societies each were purposively selected (150 cooperative societies). The third stage entailed judgmental selection of Presidents, Secretaries and Treasurers of the selected cooperatives and this gives a total of 450 respondents. The data collected for the research questions were analyzed using descriptive statistical tools such as table, percentage, mean, standard deviation and multiple regressions. Findings of the study revealed that age of cooperative business is significantly influenced by cultural factors (F-ratio= 660.266 Sig @ 0.000). Of all items depicting cultural factors, kinship system, age grade practices and religious groups were particularly found to have very high influence on age of cooperative societies. It was recommended that Cooperative societies should uphold the cultural norms of their location of business and engage in activities that promote concern for their host community to avoid effects of restiveness which has the capacity of closing down cooperative shops.