Analyzing the Relationship among Social Capital, Dynamic Capability, and Farmers' Cooperative Performance Using Lightweight Deep Learning Model: A Case Study of Liaoning Province

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to understand the relationship between social capital and the performance of Farmers' Cooperatives (Cooperatives) and explore the internal mechanism of social capital affecting the performance of Cooperatives. This work selects two dimensions: cognitive social capital (CSC) and structural social capital (SSC), as indexes to measure the social capital of Cooperatives. An analytical framework is proposed: "Social capital-Dynamic capabilities-Organizational performance." First, according to the characteristics of Cooperatives, it determines the most appropriate index values and preprocesses the original data. Statistical Product and Service Solutions (SPSS) and Analysis of Moment Structure (AMOS) 25.0 software are used for factor analysis. A financial performance evaluation model of Cooperatives based on backpropagation neural network (BPNN) is constructed. Then, based on the survey data of 212 Cooperatives in Liaoning Province, the structural equation model (SEM) is used to test the interaction path between "Social capital-Dynamic capacity-Organizational performance." The results show that SSC's standardized regression coefficients (SRCs) on Cooperatives' economic benefits and member satisfaction are 0.208 and 0.095, respectively, significant at 1%. The actual case analysis concludes that the larger the scale of the structural network embedded in Cooperatives is, the more conducive it is to obtaining extensive resources. As such, Cooperatives can absorb the advanced experience and compensate for the weakness of lack of internal resources and experience. The SRC of CSC on Cooperatives' economic benefits is 0.336, and the P value is 0.204, indicating an insignificant impact of CSC on Cooperatives' economic benefits. This work considers environmental variability, uses dynamic capacity as an independent variable, opens the "black box" between social capital and the performance of Cooperatives, and reveals the intermediate path between the two.