Abstract:
Background: In December 2021, the International Co-operative Alliance (ICA), organized the 33rd World Co operative Congress in Seoul, South Korea; with a rallying call for "deepening our co-operative identity" to
secure the future. Based on the current global crisis as a framework, the congress discussions were aimed to
deepen the co-operative identity by examining the co-operative values, strengthening co-operative actions,
committing to co-operative principles, and living the co-operative achievements. Behind these pertinent issues,
is the centrality of knowledge and information for co-operative business models development and management
by practitioners in various contexts across the world.
Purpose and Methodology: The purpose of this study paper was to help identify types and sources of the from
broad co-operative development and management knowledge and show how epistemologies contribute to the
co-operative business modelling framework in different contexts. The qualitative methodology was used by
reviewing, discussing, and drawing on conclusion of the different epistemologies into the context of the co operative's development and management.
Results: The co-operative development and management is based on at least both the Foundationalism
(Justificationism) and Fallibilism epistemologies. The specific epistemologies for co-operatives development are
largely historical relativisms (i.e., history of co-operatives development), Criticalism (i.e., theories),
Instrumentalism (i.e., schools of thoughts), Paradigmatic Relativism (i.e., development trends), and
Paradigmatic Justificationism (i.e., definitions and principles) and Pragmatism (i.e., co-operative laws). The
battleground of the epistemologies for co-operative development and management is between the Criticalism
(especially Critical Rationalism) and Solidarist Relativism (in particular cultural relativism, paradigmatic
relativism, communitarian relativism, and historical relativism).
Conclusion: The results of this study inform the co-operative scholars and practitioners on how to gain
knowledge on the successful development and management of co-operatives. Thus, the study delineates the
specific epistemologies that contribute to the co-operative development and management.
