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Abstract
The present study investigates how Swiss farmers organized into farming
collectives (FCs) rate communication with their cooperation partners. The
research uses the KomminO questionnaire focusing on intra-organizational
communication (Sperka, 2000; Sperka and Rozsa, 2007). The validity of the
questionnaire in an agricultural context is analyzed, resulting in confirmation
of four of the seven scales assessed by the KomminO, namely,
communication quality, usability of information, channel openness, and
importance of communication. The FC farmers’ scores in these four scales
were all fairly high. The comparison of the farmers’ scores with the data of a
large norm sample suggests that the rating of communication quality,
usability of information, and channel openness by FC farmers is
significantly above average. Accordingly, the results indicate that Swiss
farmers organized into FCs possess strong communication skills. Given that
for 75% of the farmers completing the questionnaire the FCs have been in
place for at least five years, we can conclude that communication skills are
an important factor for the continued existence of an FC.