Economic Benefits and Constraints in Management of Thrift Co-operatives in Public Organizations.

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the contribution of thrift cooperatives in poverty reduction and grassroots micro-credit empowerment of its members. Five research questions framed the study viz, what is: the level of marketing facilities offered to thrift cooperatives members, the ease of accessibility and repayment terms of loans obtained. Others include ascertaining regularity in payment of thrifts and dividends to co-operators (at the specified periods) and the challenges (or problems) facing management of cooperatives in public organizations? Copies of five point Likert scaled research questionnaire highlighting clusters of questions were administered to a random sample of respondents. Qualitative data collected were based on the respondents’ ratings on the following clusters: Regularity in Thrift Payments, Marketing Facilities Granted to Members, Loan Accessibility by Members, Ease of Loan Repayment, Level of Dividend Payments, and Challenges Facing Management of Societies. Applying a Factor Analysis technique in analysing the sample data, we found that: provision of consumer goods at affordable prices, capital formation opportunities in form of thrifts, loans, shares and dividend payments attract and sustain membership of thrift societies. However, lack of: trust, transparent and innovative management techniques challenge administration of these societies in public organizations. Policy implications of the findings were discussed.

Keywords: Thrift, credit, loan, co-operative, micro-finance, welfare, factor analysis,