Small agricultural cooperatives are increasingly using differentiated payments based on the quality of their members’ products. Such cooperatives make a trade-off between the return on investment in quality and members’ disengagement from the cooperative. Based on data from the five-year survey of small French agricultural cooperatives, we analyse the effect of incentive payments on small cooperatives’ performances. We investigate how incentive payments can reduce the problem of free riders and improve these cooperatives’ reputation. Using a quantile regression method, while controlling for the potential endogeneity of incentive payments, we show that quality-based compensation can rule out cooperative members’ defrauding options. This remuneration has a non-linear positive effect on small cooperatives’ performances. The results suggest that incentive payments improve small cooperatives’ performances.

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优质的激励支付能提高合作绩效吗？法国小型农业合作社的案例

小型农业合作社越来越多地使用基于其成员产品质量的差异化支付方式。此类合作社在质量投资回报和成员脱离合作社之间进行权衡。基于对法国小型农业合作社五年调查的数据，我们分析了奖励金对小型合作社绩效的影响。我们研究了奖励金如何减少搭便车问题并提高这些合作社的声誉。使用分位数回归方法，在控制激励支付的潜在内生性的同时，我们表明基于质量的薪酬可以排除合作成员的欺诈选择。这种薪酬对小型合作社的绩效具有非线性的积极影响。