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Abstract
Factors determining the group performance of women-led self-help groups (SHGs) engaged in agroprocessing
organized under Swarnajayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojna (SGSY) in Kerala have been studied
following the multi-stage purposive and random sampling technique in the Thrissur district. It has
been observed that socio-economic variables like age, education, market perception, economic
motivation, attitude towards self-employment, management-orientation, risk-orientation,
innovativeness and information-seeking behaviour influence the group performance of SHGs. The
BPL women in SGSY-SHGs of the performing groups are around 30 years of age, with middle school
level education. Education and age of respondents have negative correlation on group leadership.
The group stability has been determined by factors like group cohesion, group leadership, team spirit,
group decision-making and regularity in maintenance of records. Correlation analysis between group
performance and socio-economic characters has revealed that management-orientation has a positive
and significant influence on all the determinants of group performance, followed by information-seeking
behaviour, knowledge about processing, market perception and economic motivation. The
parameters like age of respondent, education of spouse, attitude towards self-employment and
innovativeness have been found least influential on group performance. The study has indicated the
need of providing training on management and technical aspects as well as provision of market
infrastructure to the SHGs so that they could become competitive in the market.