Abstract

The factors influencing participation of urban household members in cooperative organization in the Abeokuta metropolis was examined in this study, using primary data collected from 120 household members registered among 10 Credit and Thrift Cooperative Societies (CTCS) randomly selected from a list of registered cooperative unions in a two-stage sampling techniques. At the first stage, Abeokuta was purposively selected due to the preponderance of CTCS within the metropolis; and subsequently, 120 respondent members were drawn from a cluster of 55 households involving at least 1–3 cooperative members. The highest range of respondents’ age is 41-50 years, representing 35.8% of the sample size. Cooperative societies were dominated by female members (86.7%), while 79.2% of the respondents were married. It was evident from the study that 40% of the respondents had gainful interpersonal and enterprise experience of 20 years and above from within their respective cooperative societies. Among the major determinants of participation in CTCS in the study area were gender (p<0.05; -0.0412); annual income (p<0.10; -1141); household size (p<0.10; 0.0113); and dependency ratio (p<0.05; 0.0322) of members’ households. It was recommended that members’ primary income sources needed to improve to further encourage and sustain cooperative participation, while proper attention must be given to cooperative activities as a veritable tool for enhancing entrepreneurial funds mobilization through savings and supply of financial support to members.