Employee Interest in Cooperative Membership Amid Non-Performing Loan Issues: Evidence from Central Kalimantan

Abstrak

The Al-Ikhlas Employee Cooperative within the Ministry of Religious Affairs of Central Kalimantan Province is facing non-performing loans that threaten its sustainability and the trust of its members. This study examines the factors influencing employees’ intention to join cooperatives under financial pressure. A quantitative causal survey was conducted using questionnaires distributed to employees who had not yet become members of the cooperative. Of the 59 eligible employees, 47 participated in this study. Multiple regression analysis revealed that knowledge about the cooperative, perceived economic benefits, trust in management, risk perception, and social environment simultaneously had a significant effect on membership intention, explaining 45.8% of the variance. Partially, only knowledge and the social environment were significant predictors of intention. Knowledge had a negative effect, and the social environment emerged as the strongest positive predictor. Perceived economic benefits, trust, and risk perceptions were not statistically significant. These findings indicate that social influence plays a more important role than economic considerations or institutional trust in periods of financial distress. This study is limited by its focus on a single employee cooperative with a relatively small sample size, which may limit the generalizability of the findings to other cooperative institutions or different organizational contexts. The study extends the Theory of Planned Behavior by incorporating trust and risk perception into the analysis of cooperative membership intention under institutional crisis conditions.