Effect of Psychological Dispositions of Cooperative Members on Rural Development in Nigeria: A Study of Selected Cooperatives In Awka South Local Government Area Of Anambra State

Abstract

Rural development programmes and initiatives have been alleged to be hampered by environmental factors including pervert perceptions of the rural dwellers the supposed direct beneficiaries of the development designed for improved human wellbeing. This work studied the randomly selected active Cooperative Societies in Awka North Local Government of Anambra State Nigeria to discover whether their members possess psychological dispositions that can hamper rural development in the area. Structured questionnaire were administered to the 144 randomly selected cooperatives societies’ members. The responses of the 130 data producing respondents indicated that they had formal education; 91% were married; majority were above 40 years; and 64% of them earn N10, 000 – N29, 000 per month (showing just within $1.5 - $5 per day given N178 per $1). Using the Hudson (1982) and Buchanan (1974) of measuring the index of self-esteem and level of loyalty respectively as standardized and adopted for Nigerians it was discovered that the index of self-esteem showed that 38% of the female respondents and 30% of the males had high self-esteem respectively. The level of loyalty showed that 97% of the women and 95% of the men fell within the range of adequate loyalty (51% of which scored up to 60.00 points). The socio-economic characteristics of cooperative members have positive and significant influence on their level of self-esteem. And, the socio-economic characteristics of cooperative members have positive and significant effect on their level of loyalty to their societies. Among the recommendations were the need for more promotions to encourage women and youth cooperative societies; recruitment of cooperative field workers, trained and adequately motivated by the governments and the stakeholders; and professionalism of the cooperative practice via an act of parliament in Nigeria.

Key words: Rural development, self-esteem, loyalty, cooperatives