Organizational justice, opportunism, governance costs and relationship performance: A study in family farming cooperatives

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.21527/2237-6453.2026.64.17147

Keywords:

Opportunism, Organizational Justice, Relationship Performance, Governance Costs, Family Farming

Abstract

This study investigates the relationship between organizational justice, opportunism, governance costs, and relationship performance within an agricultural cooperative composed of family farming members. A quantitative research design was adopted, and data were collected through a structured questionnaire administered to cooperative members between August and November 2024. The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics. The results indicate predominantly positive perceptions of organizational justice, particularly in the interactional dimension, highlighting respectful treatment and effective communication by the cooperative’s management. Distributive justice was also positively evaluated, although variations were observed regarding the criteria used for distribution. Procedural justice revealed opportunities for improvement, especially in decision-making processes. With respect to opportunism, strong opportunistic behavior was perceived at low levels, though some respondents reported information withholding. Weak opportunism, associated with insufficient support among members, presented a moderate level of perception. Governance costs were assessed as moderate, with greater variability identified in conflict resolution. Overall, relationship performance was highly rated, reinforcing collaboration and mutual support among cooperative members.

References

ADAMS, J. S. Inequity in social exchange. In: BERKOWITZ, L. (Ed.). Advances in experimental social psychology. New York: Academic Press, v. 2, p. 267-299, 1965.

AL HALBUSI, H.; RUIZ-PALOMINO, P.; JIMENEZ-ESTEVEZ, P.; GUTIÉRREZ-BRONCANO, S. How upper/middle managers' ethical leadership activates employee ethical behavior? The role of organizational justice perceptions among employees. Frontiers in Psychology, v. 12, p. 652471, 2021. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.652471

ANGELIS, M. DE.; MAZZETTI, G.; GUGLIELMI, D. Job Insecurity and Job Performance: A Serial Mediated Relationship and the Buffering Effect of Organizational Justice. Frontiers in Psychology, [s. l.], v. 12, p. 694057, 2021. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.694057

BAKOTIĆ, D.; BULOG, I. Organizational justice and leadership behavior orientation as predictors of employees job satisfaction: Evidence from Croatia. Sustainability, v. 13, n. 19, p. 10569, 2021. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/su131910569

BEUGRÉ, C. D. Understanding organizational justice and its impact on job performance. New York: IGI Global, 1998.

BRASIL. Lei nº 5.764, de 16 de dezembro de 1971. Define a Política Nacional do Cooperativismo e institui o regime jurídico das sociedades cooperativas. Diário Oficial da União: seção 1, Brasília, DF, 20 dez. 1971

CHATZOPOULOU, E.; LIOUKAS, S.; VOUDOURIS, I. HQ controls, agency costs, and procedural justice. Global Strategy Journal. p. 1-31, 2023. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/gsj.1473

COLQUITT, J. A.; CONLON, D. E.; WESSON, M. J.; PORTER, C. O.; & NG, K. Y. Justice at the millennium: A meta-analytic review of 25 years of organizational justice research. Journal of Applied Psychology, v. 86, n. 3, p. 425-445, 2001.

COSTA, C. C. B. DA.; REYES JUNIOR, E.; DIAS, F. O. Coexistência de confiança e oportunismo em projetos cooperativos entre startups. Organizações & Sociedade, v. 29, p. 258-276, 2022.

CRESWELL, J. W. Projeto de pesquisa: métodos qualitativos, quantitativos e misto. 3. ed. Porto Alegre: Artmed, 2010.

CROPANZANO, R.; AMBROSE, M. L. Organizational justice: Where we have been and where we are going. Research in Personnel and Human Resources Management, v. 34, p. 219-263, 2015.

CROSNO, J. L.; DAHLSTROM, Robert. Toward understanding passive opportunism in dedicated relationships. Journal of Marketing Channels, v. 20, n. 3-4, p. 279-304, 2013.

DIAKITÉ, D.; ROYER, A.; ROUSSELIÈRE, D.; TAMINI, L. D. Formal and informal governance mechanisms of machinery cooperatives: The case of Quebec. Journal of Co-operative Organization and Management, v. 10, n. 2, p. 100181, 2022. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcom.2022.100181

ELLERMAN, D. Worker cooperatives as based on first principles. Journal of Entrepreneurial and Organizational Diversity, v. 5, n. 1, p. 20-32, 2017.

GLAVEE-GEO, R.; ENGELSETH, P.; BUVIK, A. Power imbalance and the dark side of the captive agri-food supplier–buyer relationship. Journal of Business Ethics, v. 178, n. 3, p. 609-628, 2022. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-021-04791-7

GRASHUIS, J.; BERCU, F.; FLOREA, A.; RADU, R. I. The commercial growth of farmer cooperatives in Romania: A double‐hurdle model analysis. Annals of Public and Cooperative Economics, v. 95, n. 1, p. 113-127, 2024. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/apce.12459

GREENBERG, J. Organizational justice: Yesterday, today, and tomorrow. Journal of Management, v. 16, p. 399-432, 1990.

GRIMSHAW, D.; HAYTER, S. Employment relations and economic performance. In: Comparative employment relations in the global economy. Routledge, p. 139-168. 2020.

HA, J. C.; LEE, J. W. Realization of a sustainable high-performance organization through procedural justice: the dual mediating role of organizational trust and organizational commitment. Sustainability, v. 14, n. 3, p. 1259, jan. 2022. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/su14031259

HAIR, J; BABIN, B; MONEY, A; SAMOUEL, P. Fundamentos de métodos de pesquisa em administração. Porto Alegre: Bookman, 2005.

HANNACHI, M.; TRABER, A.; PENKER, M.; TOUZARD, Jean-Marc. The “new agricultural collectivism”: How cooperatives horizontal coordination drive multi-stakeholders self-organization. Journal of Co-operative Organization and Management, v. 8, n. 2, p. 100111, 2020. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcom.2020.100111

HERNÁNDEZ-ESPALLARDO, M.; ARCAS-LARIO, N.; SÁNCHEZ-NAVARRO, J. L.; MARCOS-MATÁS, G. Curbing members' opportunism in first-tier and federated agricultural marketing cooperatives. Agribusiness, v. 38, n. 1, p. 195-219, 2022. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/agr.21718

HUO, B. et al. The impact of justice on collaborative and opportunistic behaviors in supply chain relationships. International Journal of Production Economics, v. 177, p. 12-23, 2016. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijpe.2016.04.006

ILIOPOULOS, C.; VALENTINOV, V. Member preference heterogeneity and system-lifeworld dichotomy in cooperatives: An exploratory case study. Journal of Organizational Change Management, v. 30, n. 7, p. 1063-1080, 2017. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/jocm-12-2016-0262

ILIOPOULOS, C.; VALENTINOV, V. Opportunism in agricultural cooperatives in Greece. Outlook on Agriculture, v. 41, n. 1, p. 15-19, 2012.

JIA, F.; WEI, L.; JIANG, L.; HU, Z.; YANG, Z. Curbing opportunism in marketing channels: the roles of influence strategy and perceived fairness. Journal of Business Research, v. 131, p. 69-80, 2021. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2021.03.039

KOGUT, B.; ZANDER, U. What firms do? Coordination, identity, and learning. Organization Science, v. 7, n. 5, p. 502-518, 1996.

LEE, C.; HA, B. C. The impact of interactional justice and supply-chain collaboration on sustainable SCM performance: The case of multinational pharmaceutical firms. The Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Business, v. 7, n. 2, p. 237-247, fev. 2020. DOI: https://doi.org/10.13106/jafeb.2020.vol7.no2.237

LEE, S.; BYUN, G.; KIM, S. Effects of coworkers’ helping behavior on employees’ knowledge sharing and creativity: The moderating role of interactional justice. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, v. 18, n. 24, p. 13302, 2021. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph182413302

LIU, Y.; HUANG, Y.; LUO, Y.; ZHAO, Y. How does justice matter in achieving buyer–supplier relationship performance? Industrial Marketing Management, 2012. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jom.2012.03.003

LUO, Y. Procedural fairness and interfirm cooperation in strategic alliances. Strategic Management Journal, v. 29, n. 1, p. 27–46, 2008. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/smj.646

LUO, Y. Toward the micro- and macro-level consequences of interactional justice in cross-cultural joint ventures. Human Relations, v. 59, n. 8, p. 1019-1047, 2006. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/0018726706068769

LUO, Y.; LIU, Y.; YANG, Q.; MAKSIMOV, V.; HOU, J. Improving performance and reducing cost in buyer–supplier relationships: The role of justice in curtailing opportunism. Journal of Business Research, v. 68, n. 3, p. 607-615, 2015. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2014.08.011

MASTEN, S. E. Equity, opportunism, and the design of contractual relations. Journal of Institutional and Theoretical Economics (JITE)/Zeitschrift für die gesamte Staatswissenschaft, v. 144, n. 1, p. 180-195, 1988.

MIKAMI, K.; IKEGAMI, J. J. J.; BIRD, A. Opportunism and trust in cross-national lateral collaboration: the Renault-Nissan Alliance and a theory of equity-trust. Journal of World Business, v. 57, n. 3, p. 101286, abr. 2022. DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jwb.2021.101286

MORGAN, R. M.; HUNT, S. D. The commitment-trust theory of relationship marketing. Journal of Marketing, v. 58, n. 3, p. 20-38, 1994.

OLIVEIRA, W. C. D.; BERTOLINI, G. R. F. Uma revisão sistemática sobre a contribuição das cooperativas para a sustentabilidade da agricultura familiar. Research, Society and Development, [s. l.], v. 11, n. 2, p. e43411226098, 2022. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.33448/rsd-v11i2.26098

QI, L.; XU, Y.; LIU, B. Does justice matter in voice? Inclusive leadership and employee voice: the moderating role of organizational justice perception. Frontiers in Psychology, v. 14, p. 1313922, dez. 2023. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1313922

RAHMAN, D.; FAFF, R.; OLIVER, B. Does board independence constrain insider opportunism? Australian Journal of Management, v. 46, n. 3, p. 499-522, 2021. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/0312896220946384

RAWLS, J. A theory of justice. Rev. ed. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, p. 3-6.1999.

SACCHETTI, S.; TORTIA, E. C. Governing cooperatives in the context of individual motives. International Journal of Social Economics, v. 48, n. 2, p. 181-203, 2021. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1108/IJSE-09-2019-0579

SACCHETTI, S.; TORTIA, E. C. The social value of multi-stakeholder co-operatives: The case of the CEFF system in Italy. Economia e Lavoro, v. 49, n. 2, p. 93-112, 2015.

SACCHETTI, S.; TORTIA, E. The extended governance of cooperative firms: inter‐firm coordination and consistency of values. Annals of Public and Cooperative Economics, v. 87, n. 1, p. 93-116, 2016. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/apce.12058

SAMOGGIA, A. et al. An exploration of agro-food chain distributive, procedural and interactional fairness in food products. Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems, v. 7, 2023. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3389/fsufs.2023.1209414

SÁNCHEZ-NAVARRO, J. L.; ARCAS-LARIO, N.; BIJMAN, J.; HERNÁNDEZ-ESPALLARDO, M. The role of agricultural cooperatives in mitigating opportunism in the context of complying with sustainability requirements: empirical evidence from Spain. Agricultural and Food Economics, v. 12, n. 1, p. 40, 2024. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1186/s40100-024-00332-8

SARTI, D. Balancing organizational justice and leader–member exchange to engage workforce: Evidence from social cooperatives in Italy. Journal of Workplace Learning, v. 31, n. 3, p. 231–246, 2019. DOI: https://psycnet.apa.org/doi/10.1108/JWL-09-2018-0116

SEGGIE, S. H.; GRIFFITH, D. A.; JAP, S. D. Passive and active opportunism in interorganizational exchange. Journal of Marketing, v. 77, n. 6, p. 73-90, 2013. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1509/jm.11.0529

SILVA, I. M. da; QUEIROZ, R. G. de; GIMENES, R. M. T. Governance and perceptions of organizational justice: a study of scientific production. Boletim de Conjuntura (BOCA), Boa Vista, v. 17, n. 49, p. 127-150, 2024. DOI: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.10476865

SU, X.; ZHANG, H.; GUO, S. A model and complexity analysis of the relationship based on organizational justice and embeddedness theories. Complexity, v. 2020, p. 1–16, 2020. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1155/2020/6129840

TRADA, S.; GOYAL, V. Tripartite role of communications in channel relationships: Mitigating exchange hazards, reducing opportunism, and curtailing its ill effects on relationship performance. Industrial Marketing Management, v. 85, p. 281-294, 2020. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.indmarman.2019.11.015

TRADA, S.; GOYAL, V. The dual effects of perceived unfairness on opportunism in channel relationships. Industrial Marketing Management, v. 64, p. 135-147, 2017. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.indmarman.2017.01.008

TYLER, T. Procedural justice shapes evaluations of income inequality: Commentary on Norton and Ariely. Perspectives on Psychological Science, v. 6, n. 1, p. 15-16, fev. 2011. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/1745691610393981

VAN PROOIJEN, J. Procedural justice as autonomy regulation. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, v. 96, n. 6, p. 1166–1180, 2009. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1037/a0014153

WATHNE, K. H.; HEIDE, J. B. Opportunism in interfirm relationships: forms, outcomes, and solutions. Journal of Marketing, v. 64, n. 4, p. 36–51, 2000.

WILLIAMSON, O. E. The Economic Institutions of Capitalism: Firms, Markets, Relational Contracting. New York: Free Press, 1985.

WILLIAMSON, O. E. Comparative economic organization: the analysis of discrete structural alternatives. Administrative Science Quarterly, Ithaca, v. 36, n. 2, p. 269-296, 1991.

WILLIAMSON, O. E. Transaction-cost economics: The governance of contractual relations. Journal of Law and Economics, v. 22, n. 2, p. 233-261, 1979.

ZAHEER, A.; MCEVILY, B.; PERRONE, V. Does trust matter? Exploring the effects of interorganizational and interpersonal trust on performance. Organization Science, v. 9, n. 2, p. 141-159, 1998.

ZHANG, L.; XI, G. How does contractual flexibility affect a contractor’s opportunistic behavior? Roles of justice perception and communication quality. Buildings, v. 13, n. 3, p. 615, 2023. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/buildings13030615

ZHAO, D.; GU, F. F.; WANG, L. The impact of contractual governance on forms of opportunism. Industrial Marketing Management, v. 102, p. 89-103, 2022. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.indmarman.2022.01.006

Published

2026-04-17

How to Cite

Candia , M. Y. M., Gimenes, R. M. T., Mauad, J. R. C., de Souza, K. F. R., & Tsuji Junior, N. (2026). Organizational justice, opportunism, governance costs and relationship performance: A study in family farming cooperatives. Desenvolvimento Em Questão, 24(64), e17147. https://doi.org/10.21527/2237-6453.2026.64.17147

Issue

Section

Artigos