Sustaining the Cooperatives: The Role of Exploration

The cooperative sector serves as a potential economic player that ensures economic growth. The world is progressively recognizing the numerous benefits of this industry especially on the social and economic aspects. Cooperatives nowadays are exploring means to guarantee a positive impact on the sustainability of their organizations. This industry serves as a powerful tool to alleviate living conditions of the members at the same time sustains economic growth; however, an extremely changing and competitive environment currently challenged this industry. This research work finds its essence through the genuine efforts to contribute knowledge to the current scenario. The purpose of this study is to examine the impact of resources on the sustainability of multi-purpose cooperatives. This study employed mixed method research design. The survey conveniently selected a total of 641 cooperative officers among the 75 cooperatives in Bukidnon. The researcher conducted interviews with five officers holding key positions and focus group discussions among 30 members from five cooperatives. The findings show that exploration has a significant impact on sustainability. Limitations of this study include the proposed indicators of exploration; composed of freedom, risk-taking and rewards which were assessed by the conveniently selected cooperative officers of Bukidnon. Over-all the study implies that if multi-purpose cooperatives create a supportive atmosphere where cooperative officers are encouraged to explore new ideas and strategies; sustainability will possibly come at hand. Keywords: Sustainability, Exploration, Cooperative, Reward, Risk-taking, Freedom