Sustainability in Women’s Cooperatives: A Qualitative Study from a Stakeholder Theory Perspective
Sustainability (Switzerland), cilt.18, sa.17, 2026 (SCI-Expanded, SSCI, Scopus)
- Yayın Türü: Makale / Tam Makale
- Cilt numarası: 18 Sayı: 17
- Basım Tarihi: 2026
- Doi Numarası: 10.3390/su18178872
- Dergi Adı: Sustainability (Switzerland)
- Derginin Tarandığı İndeksler: Science Citation Index Expanded (SCI-EXPANDED), Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI), Scopus, CAB Abstracts, Geobase, INSPEC
- Anahtar Kelimeler: economic sustainability, environmental sustainability, social sustainability, stakeholder theory, women’s cooperatives
- Yıldız Teknik Üniversitesi Adresli: Evet
Özet
Growing global challenges have made it imperative to evaluate economic activities not only in terms of economic growth but also from the perspectives of environmental and social well-being. Within this context, Women’s Production and Business Cooperatives have emerged as critical collective initiatives that support local development. In this study, “Women’s Production and Business Cooperatives” refer to cooperatives established and predominantly managed by women to collectively engage in the production and commercialization of goods and services, generate income and employment opportunities for their members, and promote women’s economic and social empowerment. Hereafter, these organizations are referred to as “women’s cooperatives.” However, studies that comprehensively examine the sustainability practices of women’s cooperatives through the framework of Elkington’s Triple Bottom Line (economic, social, and environmental sustainability) remain limited. From the perspective of Stakeholder Theory, cooperatives are regarded as organizations that extend beyond the pursuit of economic profit by creating value for both internal and external stakeholders, including women, local communities, the environment, consumers, and public institutions. Accordingly, this study aims to provide an in-depth examination of the sustainability practices adopted by women’s cooperatives within these three dimensions, as well as to identify the challenges they encounter. This study adopted a qualitative research design, utilizing in-depth interviews with seven presidents and managers representing women’s cooperatives. The findings suggest that zero-waste practices, the adoption of circular economy principles, and the transition toward green agriculture constitute the primary sustainability initiatives, whereas high technology and packaging costs, together with insufficient institutional collaboration, represent the major challenges to the environmental sustainability. Within the economic sustainability dimension, the findings indicate that the participating cooperatives have increasingly shifted toward industrial production standards, value-added by-products, and business-to-business (B2B) marketing strategies. Nevertheless, rising input and logistics costs, together with unfair competition, continue to pose significant challenges. As relates to social sustainability, the findings highlight intergenerational transmission of cultural heritage, psychosocial recovery, efforts to challenge social prejudice, inter-cooperative solidarity, and the allocation of resources for social benefit, including scholarship support. Overall, the findings reveal that these cooperatives make meaningful contributions to multidimensional sustainability and stakeholder well-being, thereby providing valuable empirical insights into the sustainability literature.