Laurie Mook

Credit Unions Market Niche or Market Accommodation

Credit unions, nonprofit mutual associations also called financial cooperatives, have a lengthy history. The World Council of Credit Unions reports that credit unions are found in 101 countries representing 56,000 credit unions, more than 200 million members, and

Examining ideation processes in online invited spaces

1.7 trillion in assets. This study, following earlier research in Canada that found that credit unions are more prevalent in rural communities and small towns relative to the general population and to banks, examines credit union and bank branches in three U.S. states (Arizona, New Hampshire, and Wisconsin). We find that credit union branches are strongly represented in sizable urban communities, and are more likely to be located in low-income zip code areas than banks. The data show not only evidence of a credit union niche market but also a tension between social and economic objectives, and that credit unions accommodate themselves to profit norms, what we refer to as market accommodation.

Accountability and Social Accounting in Associations

Governments use Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) in various ways to include the public into decision-making processes, and online public participation is one of the participatory activities included in open government plans. Using data from comments posted on an online deliberative platform initiated by a municipal government, this paper explores how ideation naturally emerged in the deliberation process and examines the role of participants in each stage of the ideation process. We identified five dimensions in the ideation process: idea proposal, idea reception, idea development, idea closure, and idea implementation. In the online forum that we examined, the comments referred to idea reception, idea development, and idea closure. We found that the dimensions and patterns of ideation were related to the level of controversy of particular issues. More specifically, when we examined the ideation processes by level of idea controversy, we observed that more disagreements led to more activity in stage I of idea development (informing, commentary, and clarifying). We also identified nine different roles performed by participants: supporting, disagreeing, informing, clarifying, commentary, arguing, expanding, wrapping, and mobilizing. This paper concludes with lessons for the design and implementation of online public participation processes.

Researching the social economy

Information and communications technology (ICT) is a force that has transformed life for many people in societies throughout the world. In concert with other forces, it alters the nature of human organizations in important and often profound ways. Many of these changes will affect voluntary action, voluntary associations, and volunteering. This chapter will discuss some of these issues and present the impact of ICTs on voluntary action in the context of an emerging global information society. We will delineate how this evolution relates to other content covered in the handbook and discuss how the growth of information technology in society in general will affect voluntary associations. We will define how technology in associations differs from nonprofit technology and other forms of public technology such as e-government.