Co-operative governance and the public interest: Between control and autonomy

Co-operatives are jointly owned by their member-users,who also democratically control the enterprise. in turn,all members share the benefits of co-operatives. thus far,not much is understood about the role of the regulator vis-à-vis the co-operative board in the governance of the claimed,social enterprise. the objectives of this study are to evaluate co-operative governance from the public interest perspective and provide narratives of the nature of governance practices for accountability of malaysian co-operatives. this study adapts a public interest view borrowed from the political theory framework as proposed by cochran (1974) for the evaluation of governance practices in relation to co-operatives' accountability. data was collected through in-depth interviews. the framework suggests co-operatives follow a consensualist view,responsible to the specific community or members they serve,which demands a certain degree of autonomy to operate effectively. the description of the nature of control over co-operatives and the public's interest in co-operatives that this study provides,recommends control by regulators is,to a certain extent,needed in order for co-operatives to be effective in discharging their accountabilities as there are a lack of members' activism and co-operative board competency inherent the industry in malaysia. © 2017 penerbit universiti kebangsaan malaysia. all rights reserved.