LAUSR

Abstract Agricultural cooperatives competitive context is being defined by sustainable development paradigm, which are forcing them to assess their performance considering sustainability requirements. There are few empirical studies that provide data to assess sustainable performance of agricultural cooperatives' operations. This study contributes to the theory of sustainable operations by providing a model for sustainability performance assessment that is applied to agricultural cooperatives. The objective of the research is to assess the adherence of a set sustainability performance indicators to form an assessment model to agricultural cooperatives' operations, which is named ‘Sustainability Assessment for Agriculture Cooperatives – SAAC’. Empirical data is collected from five case studies, whose analysis reveals the level of adherence of the studied organizations to SAAC criteria. The assessment process proved to be feasible, useful, and easy to comprehend and use. SAAC model could be extended to create the foundation of a sustainability management system for agricultural cooperatives, helping them to effectively contribute to a sustainable development.