Power and participation: Behind the screens of cooperative governance
Monash Business School PhD candidate Novita Puspasari.
25 June 2025
New Monash Business School research explores how WhatsApp chats are quietly redrawing the lines of influence and inclusion in Indonesian cooperatives.
Group chats are supposed to make it easier for everyone to have their say.
However, in member-owned and -run organisations in Indonesia, these informal digital communications sometimes have the opposite effect.
Monash Business School PhD candidate Novita Puspasari, from our Department of Accounting, is investigating how WhatsApp groups - the go-to communication tool for many Indonesian cooperatives - influence what is said, who speaks, and who stays silent.
“This research matters because it looks closely at those everyday digital interactions, the kinds that often slip under the radar, and asks whether these platforms support or actually weaken democratic participation,” Ms Puspasari said.
“I’m passionate about this work because I’ve seen how cooperatives can give people a real voice in how things are run, but that only happens if their democratic values are taken seriously.”
The silent signals of power
Cooperatives play a crucial role in Indonesia, supporting a range of sectors, from farming to financial services.
These organisations are built on collective values and democratic participation, yet Ms Puspasari’s research reveals power can often operate in subtle, informal ways.
The two-year digital ethnography combined real-time WhatsApp observations, fieldwork, and interviews with members of two Indonesian cooperatives.
The findings show governance is increasingly shifting outside official channels.
What stood out most, she said, was the striking difference in communication styles in different settings.
When tensions over profit distribution arose in one cooperative, WhatsApp groups became spaces for heated debate and dissent.
However, members who challenged leadership openly in these chats were often approached privately and offered incentives to remain quiet or withdraw their objections.
“Over time, this made them less likely to speak up,” she said. “It shows that informal governance spaces can reproduce existing power structures - even while appearing more open.”
From fieldwork to policy impact
Ms Puspasari hopes her findings will prompt policymakers, practitioners, and cooperatives to think more critically about how digital platforms are used.
“My goal is to encourage more thoughtful and informed use of digital platforms in organisations, especially when it comes to promoting genuine member participation,” she said.
Her supervisor, Professor Matthew Hall, says the study offers lessons beyond Indonesia.
“Digital platforms are everywhere, and understanding how they work in the running of organisations is vital, especially as its use can be helpful as well as potentially harmful,” Prof Hall said.
“Novita’s work directly addresses how cooperatives and potentially other organisations can mobilise digital platforms in productive ways, potentially strengthening democratic engagement by members in the running of their organisations.”
In July, Ms Puspasari will head to the Oxford Centre for Mutual and Co-owned Business at the University of Oxford on a Monash Business School-backed research trip.
There, she will connect with other researchers and link her fieldwork to global conversations about cooperatives.
“Ultimately, my dream is to help create spaces - in classrooms, cooperatives, or wherever people come together - where participation is meaningful and voices are genuinely heard,” she said.
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