The changes in agricultural structure and the transformation of rural communities require new roles and functions of agricultural producing organizations. The agricultural producing organizations play a pivotal role in local agricultural organizations...
The changes in agricultural structure and the transformation of rural communities require new roles and functions of agricultural producing organizations. The agricultural producing organizations play a pivotal role in local agricultural organizations while supplementing the limits of the policies for improving agricultural structure through a bigger organization. Actually, the agricultural policies of the government put more emphasis on the agricultural producing organizations. Especially, leaders and core human resources of the agricultural producing organizations are drawing an attention as the resources to facilitate local agriculture and to lead the transformation in rural communities. Despite the importance of the leaders in agricultural producing organizations, existing researches related to rural leaders have not properly dealt with the leaders of agricultural producing organizations.
Rural leaders should be understood as a main player who comprehensively has relations with the organization and its members, and its environment, not as a natural person who is an individual enterpriser. Thus, they should be identified as persons who can integrate all the factors including production, management, and operation of the organization and take the lead in organizing local agriculture.
Based on these, this research focuses on the causal relations between the competency of leaders of agricultural producing organizations (agricultural management competency, leadership competency, network competency) and the performance of the activation of the agricultural producing organizations. This deepens and extends the existing researches which have been centered on an individual enterprise or a rural community.
This research underwent the following analysis procedures.
First, this research identified and defined leaders of agricultural producing organizations as an actual rural leader using the analysis framework of external environment and internal response. Especially, this research presents agricultural management competency, leadership competency, and network competency in light of competency theories - the roles required to leaders of agricultural producing organizations in the function of producing organizations.
Second, this research studied theories and researches on various factors, including agricultural management, leadership, and social network and then presents competency indicators in three areas, 14 indicators, and 73 items. Furthermore, this research classified producing organization activation index into three items through the review of the relations between competency and performance.
Third, this research verified the reliability and validity of the competency indicators and then conducted studies targeted on leaders (including representatives and directors) of agricultural producing organizations (crop units and agricultural corporations) in Northern Jeolla Province. (270 analysis cases) Also, this research compared and analyzed competency level according to moderating variables.
Fourth, this paper identified how leaders' competency affects the activation of agricultural producing organizations, using a structure equation model. For this end, the research model assumes that each competency factor which is an independent variable affects one another and determines a path structure directly having influence on the activation of producing organizations and leader's farm income/economic satisfaction, which are dependent variables. In addition, personal characteristics, organizational characteristics, situational factors are determined as moderating effects and it is assumed that there is a discrepancy in adjusting effects of performance indicators.
The summary of the results and discussions of analysis through structure equation model is as follows.
First, as a result of analysis of the effects of leaders' competency on the activation of producing organizations, leadership competency and network competency have positive effects. However, agricultural management competency has no meaningful causal relations.
Second, the analysis of the effects of leaders' competency on the economic performance shows that only the agricultural management competency positively affects the farm income, but leadership competency and network competency do not show any causal relations.
Third, according to the analysis of the relations between economic performance which is an endogenous variable and the activation of producing organization, farm income has positive effects on the economic satisfaction and then the economic satisfaction leads to the positive causal relations with the activation of producing organizations.
Fourth, as a result of the comparison and analysis of competency discrepancy due to the characteristics of an individual leader, agricultural management competency has the meaning of the competency discrepancy according to types of farming, types of organizations, position in an organization, structural factors, external factors. Especially, situational factors (structural and external factors) show meaningful discrepancy in every competency factors.
Fifth, the results of the analysis of moderating effects of moderating variable in the causal relations between leaders' competency and the activation of producing organizations show that in accordance with farming experience, leadership competency and network competency have the meaningful differences in the influence on the activation of producing organizations. Also, a position in an organization leads to the meaningful difference in the relation with the activation of organizations. Furthermore, leadership competency shows difference in the relations with the activation of organizations according to external support.
Sixth, each competency factor composing the competency of leaders of agricultural producing organizations is not a competency index for separate concepts. The competency factors of leaders are closely intertwined. In accordance with the results of analysis of research model, three competency factors form mutual relations and also have causal relations with the activation of producing organizations. Thus, a specific competency exerts influence on the performance of leadership through the interaction with other competency factors.
The above mentioned research results show the following implications.
The assumption of this research is that the competency structure of leaders may be improved through continuous education and training. Against the background, the competency structure of leaders presented in this research can provide the framework for the education and training courses for the leaders of agricultural producing organizations. However, it is necessary to keep a flexible viewpoint on the analysis of the causal relations between competency and performance. That is because the competency of the organization itself can have more important influence on the performance of the organization. Nevertheless, it is meaningful that this research finds that the competency of leaders exerts material influence on the performance of an organization.