Most studies of cooperatives use neoclassical economic models that focus on the assumed characteristics and behavior of capitalist firms and their owners. Such a lens ignores an important criterion that motivates establishing cooperatives: the democratic nature of a member-owned company. Ultimately the neoclassical economic models are at odds with the real goals of cooperatives (Huhtala & Tuominen, 2016;Novkovic& Miner, 2015; Paredes-Frigolett et al., 2017). Capitalist theories have questioned the governance structure of cooperatives, describing it as dysfunctional and problematic (Chaves et al., 2008; Cook, 1995;Corn-forth, 2004; Nilsson, 2018;Spear, 2004). However, cooperatives appear to be under great pressure “to adopt hierarchical command and control systems” based on the mainstream economics paradigm and to follow “best practices” of corporate governance, which is contrary to the coop-erative idea and unsuitable for a democratic organization (Novkovic & Miner, 2015, p. 11). Although facing a number of challenges, it has also been found that large cooperatives can thrive using a traditional democratic system of governance (Birchall, 2017). Because the governance structures of different cooperatives may vary significantly, there is no simple blueprint (Birchall, 2015), and the structures have become more diverse in recent decades (Hakelius & Nilsson, 2020). Despite varied structures, elected