Member shares of co‐operatives are hybrid securities in that they have characteristics of both equity and liabilities. Prior studies propose that in order to classify hybrid securities as equity or liabilities, the economic substance of those securities should be considered. This study aims to examine whether the economic substance of member shares can be considered as equity or liabilities. Systematic risk is used as a proxy of economic substance. This study tests whether the proportion of member shares to equity is positively or negatively related to equity betas. If the test shows a negative relation, member shares can be considered to have the economic substance of equity; a positive relation implies that member shares have the substance of liabilities.

中文翻译：

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合作社成员股份分类为权益还是负债：以韩国的消费者合作社为例

合作社的成员股份是混合证券，因为它们具有股本和负债的特征。先前的研究提出，为了将混合证券分类为权益或负债，应考虑这些证券的经济实质。这项研究旨在检验成员股份的经济实质是否可以被视为权益或负债。系统性风险被用作经济实质的代表。这项研究测试了成员股份占权益的比例与权益贝塔系数是正相关还是负相关。如果检验显示负相关，则可以认为成员股份具有权益的经济实质；正关系表示成员股份具有负债的实质。