Abstract:
The research aimed to study the relations between knowledge on the co-operative, communication factors and participation of the members in conducting business with the agricultural co-operative. A Case Study of the Co-operatives with a Lower-than-standard Performance and to compare a participation of the members of the co-operative as classified by sex, age, occupation, educational levels, monthly income and membership duration. The population was members totaling 137,062 of 11 agricultural co-operatives with a lower-than-standard performance in Ubon Ratchathani province. The samples used in the research were 400, derived by a proportionate random sampling. The research instrument was a five-rating scale questionnaire with a confidence value equivalent to .97. Statistics used were percentage, mean, standard deviation, variance analysis and Pearsons correlation coefficient analysis.
The research findings were as follows.
Knowledge and communication were related at a high level in one direction with participation of the members of the co-operatives in the study with a statistical significance of .01. They had a correlation coefficient value equivalent to .81 and .83 respectively.
Considering the participation of the members of the co-operatives, the members who were different in sex, occupation, monthly income and membership duration held a different view on the members participation in conducting business with the co-operatives at a statistical significance of .01. The members who had a different educational levels had a different view on the participation in conducting business with the co-operatives at a statistical significance of .05.