SUSTAINABILITY AND DIGITALISATION IN SOCIAL SOLIDARITY COOPERATIVES: A STUDY IN A CONTEXT OF CHANGE

The COVID-19 pandemic has brought new challenges to Social Solidarity Cooperatives (SSCs), affecting how they conduct their activities. The aim of this article is to analyse the extent to which SSCs’ behaviours have changed in terms of environmental practices and digital empowerment following the pandemic. Behaviour changes were assessed using a quantitative, exploratory methodology based on a questionnaire survey of 80 SSCs in Portugal. The results were analysed using a range of techniques, including descriptive analysis, exploratory factor analysis and cluster analysis. The data analysis process made it possible to group the SSCs into three distinct groups, characterised by different changes in behaviour: (i) a group of organisations with some changes in the organisation’s practices, which are more environmentally sustainable; (ii) a group of organisations that show some changes in terms of the digital transition; and (iii) a third group where there are simultaneously, and more significantly, changes in practices in terms of environmental sustainability and the digital transition. This last group is the one with the largest number of organisations in the sample. The formation of clusters is influenced by the age of the organisation and its location.