Awam Ayu Diana Awang
Co-operative College of Malaysia
The main purpose of this paper is to study the level of entrepreneurship among co-operatives in Malaysia. Sums of 465 co-operatives throughout the country were interviewed in this study. Respondents were randomly selected proportionally according to the functions namely credit/finance, farming, housing/construction, industrial, consumer, transportation and services. Based on the classification function, the co-operatives stratified by zone; North, South, East, Central, Sabah and Sarawak.
The scope of the study was determined based on the findings of related studies on entrepreneurship, and then modified using feedback from interview sessions held with a focus group, made up of mainly of co-operative board members who were experienced in co-operative matters. The information and data obtained from the co-operatives covered a three-year period (2006-2008) prior to the study year (2009).
Focus group interviews were conducted withsenior manangement members of the co-operatives to obtain the initial input and issues related to co-operative entrepreneurship. Issues raised during the focus group interviews are important to develop a questionnaire that is used as the main instrument for data collection. The questionnaire was tested in two pilot studies. Respondents comprise a member of the co-operative board, secretary, treasurer, manager and assistant manager. The questionnaire was refined after getting feedback from the respondents as a result of the pilot study. Data were collected through face-to-face interview sessions with respondents at their offices. Field surveys were conducted beginning the middle of August 2009 and were completed by the middle of January 2010.