Co-operative forest owner associations - harmonized values for sustainable development?

Sustainable development is an important concept for competitive advantage for all types of organisations and is often implemented by a top-down strategic approach. Forest owner associations are based on the co-operative idea and are therefore expected to include key stakeholders such as members in strategic decisions. A challenge is to incorporate strategic sustainability management in an organisation. It refers to considering organ-isational objectives, maintaining relations with key stakeholders and keeping the organisational identity. This study aimed to explore how forest owner associations position themselves for sustainable development. A qualitative case study based on semi-structured interviews, (including five employees and eleven members) and sustainability reports suggests that sustainable development is integrated to different extents in forest owner associations in Sweden. A strategic approach is deemed necessary for a dynamic incorporation of sustainable development that is structured and leads to the improvement of responsible practice in the organisation. This study highlights the importance of considering sustainability strategies and co-operative identity in the process of implementing sustainability management in forest co-operatives. Further research could focus on corporate strategies for sustainable development with an extended longitudinal perspective.


Introduction
Sustainable development is often applied to point out and define a way forward regarding environmental degeneration and climate change (Griggs et al., 2013).Sustainable development is here seen as the process of reaching sustainability where the dimensions of economic, social and environmental join in an ideal dynamic state (Elkington, 2004;Martin et al., 2005).Sustainable development is associated with several challenges for all industries.These challenges relate to responsible management regarding environmental, social, and economic values, referred to as the triple bottom line (TBL), coined by John Elkington (2004).Even though the forestry sector is seen as a solution to many other industries' needs for sustainable sourcing of material, it faces challenges of its own (Roos and Stendahl, 2016).Challenges that relate to a dated strategic management approach emphasise the financial bottom line, in many cases disregarding the environmental and social context of forestry (Toppinen et al., 2016).More contemporary views on corporate sustainability argue that advantages linked to sustainable development are associated with attaining competitive advantage, assuming long-term strategic management and a learning environment (Li and Toppinen, 2011).
About 50% of the forestry land in Sweden is owned by private forest owners (The Swedish Forest Agency, 2020).Many of these private forest owners belong to a Forest Owner Association (FOA), which is a cooperative organisation (Guillén et al., 2015).Swedish FOAs often aim to provide services and bargaining power for forest owners but are now experiencing increasing expectations on implementing strategies for sustainable development (Lidestav and Arvidsson, 2012;Tuominen et al., 2008).Previous research shows that forest co-operatives can create value for multiple stakeholders by differentiating their business model through sustainability management (Trigkas et al., 2019).However, FOAs strategic direction is not always aligned with their members' needs and wishes (Curtis et al., 2023;Hull and Ashton, 2008); this is partly explained by increased diversity in the forest owner profiles (Weiss et al., 2019).This can cause problems as significant discrepancies between members and the co-operative organisation can decrease member commitment to the FOA (Hakelius and Nilsson, 2020).
Swedish FOAs are also affected by the mandatory requirement for all large and medium-sized firms to report on sustainability activities according to a European Union directive on non-financial reporting (2014/95/EU) and further requirements in Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) (European Commission, 2023).However, small private forest owners are perceived by FOAs to show little interest in environmental indicators, not encouraging FOAs to consider the full spectrum of sustainable development (Lähtinen et al., 2016).An approach that can impact the public view on FOAs, bearing in mind how essential it is for actors in the forest sector to actively engage with internal and external stakeholders (Sharma and Henriques, 2005).FOAs stakeholder communication often aims to enhance the public perception of forestry and influence essential stakeholders such as small private forest owners (Fabra-Crespo and Rojas-Briales, 2015).Here especially, non-traditional forest owners have experienced difficulties influencing FOA sustainability communication (Wilkes-Allemann et al., 2021).Contemporary research on this group points to changes in needs and values that include considering all three sustainability dimensions: environment, social and economic (Keskitalo et al., 2017;Weiss et al., 2019).Therefore, sustainable development can be seen as an area that can create competitive advantage when included in business models directed towards small private forest owners (Toppinen et al., 2019).
Previous research has pointed out that forest organisations' understanding of forest owners' needs regarding sustainability activities is insufficient (Kindstrand et al., 2008;Lähtinen et al., 2016).Recent studies about forest co-operatives focus on issues concerning social capital (Guillén et al., 2015), collaboration and coordination of forest owners for shared forest management (Górriz-Mifsud et al., 2019), FOAs communication strategies (Fabra-Crespo and Rojas-Briales, 2015), dealing with uncertainty (Sonnhoff et al., 2021), comparing FOAs sustainability reporting to forest companies (Tuominen et al., 2008) and developing business models for innovation (Trigkas et al., 2019).This study, however, focuses on the dual assessment of the forest owner associations and their members regarding sustainability management in FOAs.

Aim and research questions
This study aims to explore how forest owner associations position themselves for sustainable development.Focus is on the organisation's perspective, the forest owner association and their members.Key research questions, therefore, concern both the FOA organisation and its members: RQ1. : How is the role of the forest owner associations contribution to sustainable development communicated?RQ2.: How do the association perceive the importance of including members as part of incorporating sustainable development?
The article starts with an overview of the organisational structure of FOAs, co-operatives and sustainable development.This is followed by method, findings and analysis, discussion, conclusions, and implications.A qualitative case study was carried out to further explore these research questions, with data collected from the four significant FOAs in Sweden at the time of the study.

Forest owner associations in Sweden
The Nordic countries have a long history of organising forest owners in associations and have then historically focused on the timber procurement process (Mattila and Roos, 2014).Other objectives with cooperation among forest owners can be based on multiple forests' values, such as protecting ecosystem services and biodiversity or enhancing local communities through increased market access (Hintz et al., 2021;Hull and Ashton, 2008).Kittredge (2005) describes different types of forest co-operatives based on goals, structure and size; classified as information-, equipment-or financial co-operatives.Swedish FOAs business case primarily focuses on considering the members' financial interest through timber procurement, service, information and lobbying (Kittredge, 2003;Lönnstedt, 2014).However, FOAs today face challenges in remaining relevant, with members being increasingly heterogenic where sustainable development is seen from the perspective of considering environmental, economic and social aspects (Górriz-Mifsud et al., 2019;Weiss et al., 2019).Therefore, engaging members in different governance processes can be seen as an important strategy for FOAs (Novković et al., 2023) Kronholm and Staal Wästerlund (2013) describe the organisational structure of FOAs as an hourglass-shaped organisation (Fig. 1).The upper triangle represents the democratically governed member organisation, and the bottom triangle is the operative business organisation, similar to conventional investor-owned firms (Kronholm, 2016).
A previous study of sustainable development in forest co-operatives compared to forest industry companies indicates a weak relationship between co-operative identity and sustainable development (Tuominen et al., 2008).The member-and the business structure are two parts of the same organisation responsible for achieving associations and business objectives and different types of member objectives (Lidestav and Arvidsson, 2012).A challenge for FOAs is that a strategic top-down approach to sustainability management might not prove as straightforward due to the organisational structure of the co-operative (Lönnstedt, 2014).Also, FOAs strategic development has evolved them in the direction of forest industry companies, professionalising the organisation and orientating towards individualistic benefits instead of the collective ideals (Kronholm, 2016).Such industrialisation processes in complex and large co-operatives with a heterogenic member base, like Swedish FOAs, may reduce trust among members (Guillén et al., 2015).The relationships between different actors in the governance structure are essential, and for FOAs to develop capabilities to handle external pressure, it is necessary to utilise aspects of the democratic association (Kronholm and Staal Wästerlund, 2013;Sonnhoff et al., 2021).As forest owners' values and goals change, this leads to other approaches to forestry and forest management not traditionally provided by FOAs (Weiss et al., 2019).A development where forest owners have increasingly multiple values provides new types of challenges for FOAs but also opportunities where the co-operative dimension can offer an advantage (Hull and Ashton, 2008).

Co-operative identity and sustainable development
Co-operatives are mutually owned and democratically governed by their members, described as people-centred enterprises.Co-operatives are often seen as an alternative way of conducting business where the challenge is balancing aspects of the democratic association (social) Fig. 1.The organisation and governance structure of forest owner associations in Sweden, interpreted after Kronholm and Staal Wästerlund (2013).
A. Thorning with the business operations (financial) (Levi and Davis, 2008).Considering the multidimensional concept of sustainable development adds to the complexity of co-operative governance.Co-operatives, therefore, have to consider several organisational and contextual aspects to utilise the advantage of the perceived co-operative link to sustainable development (Battaglia et al., 2016).Co-operative identity is based on the independent organisation where members voluntarily join to achieve economic, social and cultural goals through a democratic process based on co-operative values and principles (International Cooperative Alliance, 2015).A solid co-operative identity is fundamental in large and complex organisations where it is difficult for members to control the co-operative, thus resulting in insufficient democratic governance, a decrease in member involvement and a shared view of common goals (Nilsson et al., 2009).The co-operative principles are based on co-operative values (Table 1) and are related to corporate sustainability (Carrasco, 2007).The principles allow co-operatives to focus on the economic and social aspects of business operations (Castilla-Polo and Sánchez-Hernández, 2020).However, a contrary relationship often exists between democratic principles and business operations with financial objectives (Forney and Häberli, 2017).This is also described as the dual nature of co-operatives, where co-operatives have to recognise and utilise their specific organisational traits to maintain a solid agency (Novkovic et al., 2022).
The co-operative values are intimately connected to value-based cooperative principles, as shown in Table 1.These values serve as organisation-bound general principles for studies of how these organisations are managed and how they integrate sustainable development into the core of the business model.Table 2 provides an overview of previous studies of sustainable development in co-operatives.The papers chosen addressed the aim and research questions that focus on aspects important for sustainable development or sustainability management as a process in enterprise co-operatives with single stakeholder ownership.Therefore, papers that specifically studied non-profit or social enterprise co-operatives, hybrid and multi-stakeholder co-operatives and papers with an exclusive focus on a single issue or aspect of sustainability or otherwise outside the scope of the study were excluded.
Table 2 presents important aspects of corporate sustainability in cooperatives; from this table the following themes are identified: -Integration and strategy corporate sustainability in the organisation focusing co-operative values and principles.In integrating corporate sustainability the degree of commitment to co-operative values and principles can reinforce corporate sustainability in cooperatives (Ajates, 2020;Carrasco, 2007).Corporate sustainability also allows co-operatives to reinterpret and strengthen co-operative identity (Battaglia et al., 2015).The concept can assist cooperatives in establishing a clear identity, defining a way of being and incorporating sustainable development into mission, vision, policies, objectives, and strategies (Loor Alcívar et al., 2020;Server and Capo, 2011).This involves incorporating a sustainability strategy based on the core characteristics of the co-operative (Preluca et al., 2022;Server and Capo, 2011).-Communicating corporate sustainability towards members and other stakeholders.Applying co-operative identity may give co-   Server and Capo, 2011 Interrelationship between corporate social responsibility and cooperatives.
Corporate social responsibility, stakeholders, strategy, and co-operative values and principles.
The interrelationship between corporate sustainability and the cooperative can lead to competitive advantage if it is strategy-driven.
The democratic foundation can lead to integration of stakeholders in the decision-making process.Henrÿ, 2012 Sustainable development and cooperative law.
Sustainable development, corporate social responsibility, and co-operative social responsibility.
Sustainability concepts needs to be adapted to the context of cooperatives.Co-operative social responsibility is a complement to corporate social responsibility for co-operatives.Battaglia et al., 2015 Sustainability reporting and corporate identity.
Stakeholder dialogue, co-operative values.Sustainability tools can be important for reinterpretation and integration of co-operative values in management approaches.Ruostesaari and Troberg, 2016 Social responsibility in co-operatives.Corporate social responsibility, stakeholder theory, co-operative values, and principles.
Co-operatives local based ownership, close relation with stakeholders and value-based business operations enables co-operatives to engage in social responsibility.Marcis et al., 2019 Sustainability assessment in agricultural co-operatives.
Economic, environmental, social, and trade relations, and co-operative organisational dimensions.
Aspects related to how the co-operative organisation involve members; such as management of members, member benefits, quality of service to members and education & qualification are important for assessing sustainability strategies in co-operatives.Ajates, 2020 Context and identity for agricultural co-operatives Dimensions of the co-operative, cooperative context, and co-operative sustainability Balance between the co-operative dimensions to avoid the risk of corporate-like behaviour.This include considering members.
Economic, environmental, social, and corporate identity.
Corporate sustainability is a multidimensional concept.By using a fourdimension tool that includes considering values, objectives and identity sustainability strategies for co-operatives can be identified.Battaglia and Annesi, 2022 Organisational learning and sustainability strategies in cooperatives.
Organisational learning to overcome barriers to implement sustainability.
Value system based on co-operative principles that allow for the inclusion of members in the sustainability process.

Preluca et al., 2022
Co-operatives enterprises contribution to sustainable development.
Doughnut Economics.Mission and characteristics of the co-operative enterprise.
Co-operatives contribute to social sustainability through learning capacity and distributional values based on core characteristics.
A. Thorning operatives an advantage in sustainability activities and communication in relation to investor-owned firms (Tuominen et al., 2008).However, any misalignment and lack of commitment to co-operative values and principles can lead to the behaviour seen in investorowned firms focusing mainly on external sustainability aspects and stakeholders (Ajates, 2020).Principles, values, and other cooperative dimensions focusing on members are essential for studying sustainable development in co-operative organisations (Marcis et al., 2019).-Including and involving members in corporate sustainability is central to the complete and value-added implementation of sustainable development in co-operatives (Battaglia and Annesi, 2022).
The co-operative relationship with the surrounding community enables sustainability activities that include local and internal stakeholders focusing on social responsibility (Ruostesaari and Troberg, 2016).
Co-operative social responsibility (CoopSR) is a way for cooperatives to channel sustainability concepts and adapt them to the co-operative needs (Henrÿ, 2012).CoopSR is linked to the co-operative values and principles (Co-operatives Europe, 2012).Also, the cooperative principles have previously been shown to be linked to corporate sustainability (Table 3) (Aragón Amonarriz et al., 2016;Server and Capo, 2011).
The principles presented in Table 3 are introduced to offer a synthesis of how co-operative principles are related to sustainable development.Based on the co-operative principles, co-operative identity can form a framework that guides corporate sustainability (Novkovic, 2021).Considering these concepts (Table 3) in relation to important aspects of corporate sustainability in co-operatives from the literature in Table 2, a conceptual framework for this study can be presented, See Fig. 2.
The conceptual framework used for presenting findings and analysis includes aspects of the relationships between the FOA and their members in corporate sustainability.This also entails considering cooperative principles, co-operative social responsibility, and corporate sustainability as interrelated.

Selection of cases
This study is based on a qualitative case study that focuses on the phenomenon of sustainable development in Swedish FOAs.Multiple units are studied for a context-bound study of sustainable development in FOAs (Creswell and Poth, 2018).The units are the four largest FOAs in Sweden at the time of this study1 : Norra Skogsägarna (Norra), Norrskog, Mellanskog, and Södra Skogsägarna (Södra), see Table 4.These FOAs were chosen because they operate in different geographical areas, have a large number of members and industry affiliation and thereby are required to report according to EU non-financial reporting directive (2014/95/EU, 2014).They are also members of the Federation of Swedish Farmers, meaning that they have a similar purpose of increasing the financial benefits of their members (The Federation of Swedish Farmers, 2019).

Data collection
Using several data sources, thereby enabling triangulation, can strengthen the results by confirming or disconfirming any findings (Yin, 2018).Data was therefore collected through semi-structured interviews, observations, and documents such as sustainability reports, policies, and other related documents.Sustainability reports for 2013-2018 were collected from the websites of studied organisations in March and April 2019, and reports for 2019 were collected in March 2020.Sixteen sustainability reports from 2013 to 2019 published by the four organisations were studied.Other policy documents and reports were also collected and read through for an increased understanding of sustainable development in FOAs.
Semi-structured interviews with five employees and eleven members were carried out in two of the FOAs.The two chosen associations were the ones where the strategic approach to sustainable development differed the most.In a later stage, members of the two associations were interviewed.Interviews were done to deepen the understanding of the organisation's sustainability activities in relation to what was disclosed in reports, as suggested by Creswell and Poth (2018).The interviews covered different themes derived from the literature review.However, they were still flexible enough to allow the interviewees to reflect and elaborate on aspects and issues that they considered significant.Interview guides were drawn up to ensure that important themes for interviewing the two groups, employees, and members, were covered during the interview.The interview guides were altered after test interviews in the respective groups to ensure that questions were easy to understand and that the interview covered the themes comprehensively.
Purposive sampling produces a variety of aspects and different   2 and 3.
perspectives (Creswell and Poth, 2018).The sampling procedure among employees focused on the participant primarily having a job description that requires an understanding of sustainability management and strategic goals and secondly being in a managerial position having the possibility for decision-making regarding related aspects.This resulted in interviewing employees in communication, sustainability, quality and certification, membership, and market development (Table 5).The sampling among employees was relatively small, aiming to capture different perspectives on sustainable development, strategy, and the cooperative organisation form.Purposive sampling for maximum variation is done to find different perspectives based on characteristics among the participants (Creswell and Poth, 2018).The interview sampling procedure for members focused on finding different characteristics that could explain different viewpoints, for example, gender and forest property size (Table 6) (Tian and Pelkki, 2021;Umaerus et al., 2019).Face-to-face interviews were held when possible, but where this was not possible, the interview was held by telephone or video call.Participants were asked to sign a consent form informing them about their rights in this study.Permission to record and transcribe the interview was requested, and confidentiality was assured during the data collection, analysis, and writing.Five interviews with employees were held between December 2018 and October 2019 (Table 5).Although a limited number of interviews were held, empirical saturation was achieved concerning the themes.This can be explained by the fact that participants, as FOAs employees, were relatively homogeneous.
During December 2021 and February 2022, eleven interviews were carried out with members.These interviews aimed to ask questions about the objectives for forest ownership, membership and how they perceived sustainable development in relation to the FOA (Table 6).
In addition, observations were done during November 2018 and June 2019 on different occasions in which representatives from FOAs participated.Observations were not seen as the primary contributor to data collection but as assurance and validation of findings and helpful in data triangulation (Bryman, 2016).

Data analysis
The data analysis was an iterative process that took place continuously through all stages of data collection, enabling the identification of important themes.The collected data included sustainability reports, policy documents, semi-structured interviews, and observations.The interviews were recorded and transcribed for analysis, in which the participants were given an identification number or letter to ensure confidentiality.For those interviewed who wanted a summary after transcription, this was offered as part of validating the interviews.
All collected data, such as interviews, observations, and sustainability reports, was analysed through qualitative themes (Vaismoradi et al., 2013).The thematic analysis was essential for understanding similarities and was based on themes from the literature review and themes that emerged during the research and analysis process.The sustainability reports, transcribed interviews, and observation notes were read first before words, images and sentences were coded using NVivo.Cases were first created in NVivo for the analysis of the collected data.The coding process then proceeded by identifying nodes in NVivo that were later combined into different themes.NVivo was also used to compare and find relationships among themes and cases (Bazeley and Jackson, 2013).Themes, cases, and relationships were analysed, interpreted, and presented in the findings.Participants' citations in this paper have been translated from Swedish to English as authentically as possible.

Findings and analysis
Here, the findings from the sustainability reports and interviews are presented and analysed based on the literature review.The section describes the central features of corporate sustainability in FOAs and continues investigating the co-operative aspect of sustainable development.

Communicating and integration of sustainable development in forest owner associations
Södra started reporting on sustainability aspects in its sustainability reports in 2013, and the other three FOAs started reporting in 2017.All the studied FOAs use certification and environmental management systems.Overall, corporate sustainability was found to be implemented to various extents in FOAs, occurring at different stages of the incorporating process.This maturity level is reflected in the mission and vision statements.Not all FOAs had clear descriptions of vision, mission, and objectives or how they relate to sustainable development communicated in their sustainability reports.Table 7 demonstrates the interpreted mission or vision statements found in FOAs' sustainability reports.
In Norra, sustainable forestry and bio-economy can be viewed as context-specific concepts.Sustainability concepts adopted from the context of the forest industry can be strategically important aspects to consider in the FOAs business strategy (Marcis et al., 2019).Norrskog's statement focuses on the purpose of promoting the members' financial interests in line with the initial purpose of associations when being founded in Sweden (Lönnstedt, 2014).Mellanskog has incorporated sustainable development in their vision statement by creating value for forest owners and environmental consideration, important aspects to consider concerning sustainable development in co-operatives (Ajates, 2020).Södra states that they go their own way and challenge the expectations of a forest company with their members.A statement accompanied by goals and a strategy where sustainability is included as an integrated objective as suggested by (Loor Alcívar et al., 2020;Server and Capo, 2011).
One FOA had a clear strategic focus, where sustainable development is included in the business model, goals, policy, and overall strategic direction.Sustainability strategies are then seen as an important tool for member dialogue regarding essential issues: I would probably say that a strategy helps the members to understand, a way for members to follow up.For example, our goals are assigned by the board, this allows the sustainability staff to go to the board and report.Before, this was not possible because sustainability was not a prioritised area in the same way.(Employee 5) Being a member organisation and being directly responsible towards forest owners means considering inherent sustainability traits and engaging in efforts relevant to the member's interest that go beyond the financial bottom line (Table 8, Employee 2 and Member E).However, in FOAs with no clear strategy for sustainable development, activities were based on certifications, environmental policy, and general improvements in business operations, often with an external focus using sectorspecific concepts.Furthermore, there was no cohesive approach to involving members, although they are seen as a key driver and the most important stakeholder group to consider (Table 8, Employee 4).This statement points to a lack of a structured approach to sustainability management and how members can be included.Corporate sustainability is context-dependent, but a strategy is deemed necessary for structuring and organising sustainability activities, as suggested by Marcis et al. (2019).Another market-focused employee emphasises the importance of legitimating forestry in the eyes of society and how it is critical to focus on external forestry stakeholders (Table 8, Employee 1).This is also reflected in the FOAs corporate sustainability, according to a member quote (Table 8, Member A).Having an external focus and acting in line with forest companies often means giving room for less cooperative ideals as described by Employee 3 (Table 8).
These above statements can be said to mirror the dual nature of cooperatives in FOAs, represented by the inward-looking co-operative identity and the outreaching business side described by Novkovic et al. (2022).

Including members and co-operative identity in sustainable development
How FOAs, in practicality, include members is an important aspect of corporate sustainability in FOAs.Members can be included through a bottom-up approach; an example occurred when FOA employees noticed an increased interest in sustainable development among members and an opportunity to provide additional services for increased competitive advantage.For this initiative, middle managers rounded the CEO and took the proposal directly to the board:

Table 8
Examples of external and internal focus on corporate sustainability in forest owner associations stated by interviewed participants.

Internal focus External focus
We could consider society as a whole but first and foremost it is the members' view that we need to consider, and then that can differ from the public view….So yes, we always consider the members, they must be allowed to be involved and lead on this topic.That is probably the biggest influence, or I think the difference….But we need to know more about what they think are important aspects of this.(Employee 4) The most important in forestry is to think about what kind of signal we send out towards society and to work proactively to counteract any pitfalls.(Employee 1) We are on the small forest owners side and I believe that there is an important sustainability aspect in that.(Employee 2) We sometimes act on a short-term perspective and short-term profits or what we think are short time profits.We have a long-term perspective but might not always act that way….(Employee 3) Maybe that the association want to just in case take some extra consideration.I have the feeling that the association want to be on the safe side in a manner that Company X doesn't.(Member E) It is in their own interest otherwise they would not be able to sell their products.(Member A) A. Thorning So, there was a bit of a process until we got to present it to the board.
There the initiative was applauded, which felt amazing.(Employee 3) In a FOA with an established sustainability strategy, the need for both top-down and bottom-up management were explained as: Bottom-up is crucial for making things happen and the progression of activities.However, for a strategic approach to sustainability with the aim to integrate sustainability into the whole organisation, it is vital that the board and top management drive and initiate it.(Employee 5) In this case, combining approaches for implementing a sustainability strategy is preferred, but a top-down strategy is considered vital.

Members' understanding of sustainable development
Sustainable development related to the co-operative is often mentioned in relation to member diversity, focusing on the long-term perspective and the members' various objectives, which create multiple ways to own and manage forests."There is strength in diversity…" as an FOA employee puts it during a discussion about sustainability and climate in relation to forest management.The members are aware of the heterogeneity among forest owners and forest management practices.A member with a high interest in environmental issues describes the situation in FOAs as: Today it is OK to talk about sustainability in the association.The debate about forestry polarises society.However, there is polarisation even within the association, forming different groups.(Member I) These members often regarded the different opinions and motivations for sustainability as problematic as it is seen that some groups are contributing more than others, thereby questioning the FOAs contribution to biodiversity.Other forest owners explained the situation as such that it required a pragmatic approach from the association: The association cannot be expected to educate several thousand members so that all are passionate about sustainability.(Member B) Sustainable development as a foundation for the co-operative is further explained through a quote from a FOA president in the 2019 report: "To be there for each other and together create value for the individual and the world".It is also described as solidarity for the future and concern for the community through long-term profitability and possibilities to live and work in rural areas.Here the FOA stress the importance of co-operative values and principles by relating them to sustainable development and showing how the organisation form is part of the solution to global challenges previously done in the literature by Carrasco (2007).When the interviewed forest owners were asked why they chose to be members of a FOA, the answers often related to the important co-operative aspect of being part of a larger group of smallholders, democracy, trust, and a long-term perspective on forest ownership (Table 9).
Many interviewees' answers were linked to co-operative values and principles important for co-operatives' roles in sustainable development and the concept of CoopSR by Henrÿ (2012).Democratic member control is a foundation for co-operatives and an important principle of cooperatives and CoopSR.Member economic participation is often expressed in a long-term focus and being part of a community of forest owners that can act as a counterpart towards forest companies.In CoopSR, this is also seen as contributing to the local community.Education, training and information were important for many interviewed members and express social utility in CoopSR and is important for including members in the sustainability process described by Battaglia and Annesi (2022).Concern for community is often expressed as solidarity and, from a long-term perspective, both important aspects of sustainability in CoopSR.The co-operative organisation form enables a long-term view of business, which is critical in the decision-making process that focuses on sustainability:

Table 9
Interviewed forest owners' motivation for being members in a forest owner association and interpretation of related co-operative principles.

Forest owners motivations for being members Co-operative values and principles
A long-term perspective, here we have an established contact, and we trust the association.(Member A) Concern for community Voluntary and open membership I am from a family where you had to be a member, it was political to be able to stand against the companies and gather force against them.(Member B) Democratic member control Member economic participation In a company you are small, in an association there you have the possibility to influence quite a lot.(Member C) Democratic member control I wasn't a member but choose to be part of an association, or a member organisation, because it feels good not to be alone as a forest owner.The transparency in finance and distribution of money as well as structure and a long-term perspective.I think that is good!(Member D) Member economic participation Concern for community Education, training and information It is essential for all forest owners.Otherwise, there will only be an oligopoly.(Member E) Member economic participation Our association is just for us, not for anybody else.(Member F) Democratic member control Autonomy and independence It feels safe, and it is the best in a long-term perceptive.(Member G) Member economic participation Concern for community I'm co-operative as a person!(Member H) I don't know if I think that the collective aspect (of forest ownership) is great!On one hand, I understand it at the same time it is weird that some of us contribute a lot to biodiversity and others that don't but are able to take credit for our work.But that is the thing about a co-operative we help each other out.(Member I)

Concern for community
It is a family tradition!Strength in cooperation and being able to turn bad years into good.A great advantage to have the co-operative as support… It is fun, educational and you understand the business operations (Member J) Concern for community Member economic participation Education, training and information As new forest owners we wanted to be part of a co-operative.(Member K) Education, training and information

A. Thorning
The owners often have a local and long-term perspective, which is essential in our sustainability work.For example, we have a goal that extends to 2050, and with this ownership structure, this is not abnormal, but otherwise, it would have been a challenge.(Employee 5) By focusing more on the long-term nature of co-operatives and their members, FOAs can differentiate themselves from their competitors as according to Tuominen et al. (2008).The long-term perspective was seen to distinguish co-operatives from investor-owned firms and can lead to advantages in incorporating sustainable development.A longterm focus can also be related to the reason to exist for creating value for members in the long run as part of the co-operative identity.A common denominator for organisational identity in FOAs is value creation and benefits for members, in line with Marcis et al. (2019).
If the forest owners' association's reason to exist is to supply industry, then we have lost our purpose.We must exist to create value for members.(Employee 2) Value creation for members is often described in economic terms as members' financial interest and includes reliable wood procurement agreements and long-term profitability.Other ways to create value are to offer service and training to members and enhance forest growth.A member organisation entails considering critical stakeholders in both strategic and operative aspects of the business organisation: these aspects are indicators of the co-operative dimension and are important for co-operative sustainability as suggested by Marcis et al. (2019).
The forest owners' associations should be by the owner's side for the long term and must also help with minor issues.(Employee 1) Describing the importance of long-term stable relationships with members.Then receiving advice and information from the FOA on sustainability practices was considered important for members: As a forest owner, it is difficult to be knowledgeable about everything regarding sustainability.So here we need the association's help to educate us on what to consider and prioritise.(Member K) For FOAs, well-informed and knowledgeable members also function as ambassadors and are important for a fruitful relationship with the surrounding society.An FOA explains how they communicate with the local community and stakeholders through their members, increasing their responsiveness to essential aspects.This is also expressed by collaboration and lobbying through the Federation of Swedish Farmers to strengthen forest owners' decision rights and autonomy in forest management.

Discussion
Here, the findings are discussed based on aspects of integration into the organisation, communicating sustainable development and involving members and their role in corporate sustainability.Cooperation among forest owners has proven to be a solution to different sustainable development challenges in forestry (Van Gossum et al., 2005).However, a critical challenge for FOAs, previously described by Górriz-Mifsud et al. (2019) is remaining relevant to forest owners while building trust and transparency among members.This is especially important for this study as current research indicates changes in private forest owners' attitudes, including a more positive approach to other forest values besides financial value as suggested by (Weiss et al., 2019).Therefore corporate sustainability can be explained as an essential means for FOAs to consider different members' needs and objectives.This study, therefore, aligns with Trigkas et al. (2019) who state that FOAs can create value for stakeholders by differentiating through sustainability management.

Integration and strategy
Overall, corporate sustainability was found to be implemented to various extents in FOAs, occurring at different stages of the incorporating process.This maturity level is reflected in the mission and vision statements.The FOAs mission and vision statements weren't always easy to pinpoint, and if a vision statement was found, then it often proved hard to find a mission statement and vice versa.Often, mission and vision are mixed up or not used at all.However, when used properly, they can be an important foundation for identity and differentiation for the organisation (Fitzsimmons et al., 2022).As described by Hintz et al. (2021) forest owners can have different purposes for collaborating and cooperating.The studied FOAs statements, directly or indirectly, often focused on value creation for their members however this needs to be considered in the light of industry affiliations and reflecting on the dual nature of the co-operative organisation.
The dual nature of forest organisations in their relationship with forest owners has previously been described by Curtis et al. (2023).Here it is represented by the inward-looking co-operative identity and the outreaching business side.In the case of corporate sustainability it can be challenging to combine these two and coordinate members (Kronholm and Staal Wästerlund, 2013).Not having common goals to agree upon doesn't have to be a barrier to cooperation according to Borg et al. (2015).However, in the case of corporate sustainability, goals and strategies are deemed crucial for the co-operative organisation.In FOAs, member governance and top management should preferably agree on a sustainability strategy aligned with the co-operative organisation form as suggested by Server and Capo (2011).Battaglia et al. (2015) describe a top-down perspective where the board and top management commitment to implementing a sustainability strategy are essential.In FOAs, member governance and top management should preferably agree on a sustainability strategy aligned with the co-operative organisation form in a iterative top-down and bottom-up perspective.

Communicating through sustainability reporting
A structured approach and developing FOA communication have previously been found central to increasing understanding of forestry in society (Fabra-Crespo and Rojas-Briales, 2015).Three out of four FOAs started with sustainability reporting in 2017, which coincides with the legal requirement for larger organisations to disclose information about their sustainability performance (2014/95/EU).The sustainability reports are then seen as a legal requirement and necessary to maintain legitimacy.Overall, the co-operative values and principles are present in the FOAs sustainability report, often as context information, instead the focus is on external stakeholders and materiality.Having an external focus and acting in line with forest companies often means giving room for less co-operative ideals (Tuominen et al., 2008).By focusing on the co-operative nature and members in sustainability reports, FOAs can differentiate themselves and perhaps reach forest owners with nontraditional forest ownership objectives and values as suggested by (Wilkes-Allemann et al., 2021).However, this study also agrees with Sonnhoff and Selter (2021) that communication strategies are not enough for reaching forest owners here FOAs also need to engage and involve their members in the sustainability process.

Member involvement and engagement
Previous studies of corporate sustainability in relation to forest owners' organisations have shown that it is important to consider the social dimension for the purpose of engaging forest owners in sustainability practices (Dedeurwaerdere, 2009;Guillén et al., 2015;Ros-Tonen and Derkyi, 2018).Here, members of the FOAs are heterogeneous and, therefore, represent multiple social contexts for the associations to consider, as previously described by Boakye-Danquah and Reed (2019).In line with Rickenbach (2009) other members and FOA employees are A. Thorning part of forming the social context of forest owners that are members, the FOAs can then act as platforms where actors from the local community can meet and collaborate.For FOAs, this could be a way to connect with stakeholders, showing concern for the local community and building relationships with members (Carrasco, 2007;Server and Capo, 2011).Members' interest in participating in cooperation and building solid and long-term stable relationships with them are aspects found to be crucial for FOA's (Sonnhoff et al., 2021).In this study, this is based on creating benefits, offering services, education, and advice on different aspects of forest ownership.However, it is not always clear in what regard sustainable development is considered as important for members by the FOA, also described by Lähtinen et al. (2016).The focus remains highly on wood production and procurement service offerings consistent with Mattila and Roos (2014).Then, involving members in the sustainability strategy and aligning it with them, as pointed out in the citation by Employee 5, can effectively incorporate corporate sustainability as previously suggested by Battaglia et al. (2015).

Conclusions and implications
This paper explored how forest owner associations position themselves for sustainable development in FOAs from the perspective of employees and members.The study has been carried out through a qualitative case study including the largest FOAs in Sweden.In this final chapter, conclusions are presented, along with limitations of the study and suggestions for future research.This paper's theoretical contribution consists of considering the relationship between corporate sustainability and co-operative identity in a forest co-operative.Co-operative identity is a contributing factor that requires consideration in strategic decisions.Studying corporate sustainability in FOAs increases knowledge about adding sustainability practices to the forest sector, where forest owners are important stakeholders.

Forest co-operatives and sustainable development
This study highlights the importance of considering the co-operative identity as a precondition for a dynamic and concept-bound perspective on corporate sustainability in FOAs.However, primarily relying on the co-operative identity for sustainable development and not applying a sustainability strategy seems to create difficulties in guiding the process forward and systematically including other stakeholders.FOA members represent a diverse group of individuals with different outlooks on their forest management.The process of harmonizing values within the group of forest owners is, however, motivated by societal expectations of sustainable development.The role of FOAs in such harmonization is therefore captured in the understanding of long-term transitions of forest management resources.
This study concurs with Tuominen et al. (2008) that competitive advantage can be achieved by highlighting the co-operative dimension when incorporating sustainable development in a FOA.However, this process can be complicated and most likely requires a managementdriven sustainability strategy made possible through corporate sustainability (Battaglia et al., 2015).FOAs have the possibility to gain competitive advantage by emphasising the strengths of the co-operative instead of comparing and focusing on sector-specific aspects, in what could be described as co-operative advantage.Here the ownership structure is advantageous in many aspects, enabling a long-term view and a close connection to the social dimension (Carrasco, 2007).Incorporating sustainable development can reinforce the co-operative identity and create added value for members and other stakeholders.As is the case of adding aspects of sustainable development and cooperative identity into FOA vision and mission statements (Battaglia and Annesi, 2022;Loor Alcívar et al., 2020).Ideally, vision and mission statements guide and motivate organisational members towards a common purpose.However, a lack of communication or miscommunication of organisational statements can cause discrepancies between stakeholders, being left to form their own views of purpose and identity (Fitzsimmons et al., 2022;Kopaneva and Sias, 2015).
Transitioning to sustainable development and changing the way of thinking around the offering towards forest owners is difficult due to the production-oriented mindset prevailing in the forest sector (Takala et al., 2023).The dual purpose of FOAs can be exemplified by how timber buyers, representing the organisations, operate, dually offering advice and procuring timber (Curtis et al., 2023).However, here, interviews with employees offer strong statements regarding the organisation type and how it creates value for members and the local community.Acknowledging bottom-up knowledge and initiatives can reflect the needs of members not involved in the FOA's governance and exploit the organisation's full potential for sustainable development.Then, increased knowledge about members' different goals and objectives is necessary (Kindstrand et al., 2008).Members are described as the main stakeholders of FOAs and a driving force behind incorporating sustainability activities.However, there seems to be less clarity regarding what members want and how to involve them.This might be a result of the different roles of members as suppliers, owners, customers (Lidestav and Arvidsson, 2012), or investors (Hakelius and Nilsson, 2020), and a strong focus on competitive advantage, professionalising the organisation (Kronholm, 2016).FOAs see some advantage in highlighting their co-operative character in corporate sustainability, as in the case of applying a more long-term view and the democratic ownership structure.Forest owners' reason for being members often aligns with how they view their goals and objectives for forest ownership and how that aligns with co-operative ideas.Here, the heterogeneity of the ownership structure might cause difficulties if corporate sustainability aims at creating benefits for individual members or has a collectivistic approach (Fryzel and Seppala, 2016;Kronholm, 2016).As Górriz-Mifsud et al. ( 2019) write regarding forest owners' collaboration, "there is no one-size-fits-all" solution.The question is how far FOAs are willing to go from their original purpose and adapt to other goals or if other types of forest co-operatives or organisations will emerge to attract nontraditional forest owners groups (Hull and Ashton, 2008).FOAs recognise that they have a solid connection to the social dimension and function as a platform for social networks, especially in the local community.Developing the collaborative dimension of the FOA could be another way to create added value for members and other stakeholders (Górriz-Mifsud et al., 2019;Guillén et al., 2015;Novkovic, 2008).

Limitations and further research
This qualitative case study used multiple data sources to obtain context-bound knowledge about sustainable development in Swedish FOAs.Sustainability reporting is a one-way communication with stakeholders, presenting an FOA perspective only and only sometimes giving an understanding of how this is implemented through operative management procedures.Also, how organisational members, such as forest owners and employees, view and experience this process might be in contrast to FOA communication (Lidestav and Arvidsson, 2012).In this study, interviews were held to gain other perspectives and to ask questions that would deepen the understanding.The difference between FOAs in strategic approach and sustainability reports had to be compensated with more interviews in the organisation disclosing the lowest degree of information, which was also found to have a less apparent strategic direction.Mission and vision statements were not always straightforward and easy to comprehend and, therefore, in some cases, required some interpretation.
Creating benefits and value for members is the main objective of FOAs.Therefore, this study includes member perspectives which also could be further studied through a quantitative survey.Another idea would be to study external stakeholders' views on sustainable development in forest co-operatives, such as customers, local communities, or NGOs.Future studies can also involve forest co-operatives in other contexts, perhaps with other purposes than financial benefits.A third idea would be to study the internal processes of implementing sustainability practices in FOAs to be studied longitudinal (Baumgartner, 2014).This also allows for further investigation of corporate sustainability at different management levels where, for example, the operational procedures can be understood from the perspective of organisational members.

Fig. 2 .
Fig. 2. Conceptual framework of understanding the context of corporate sustainability in forest owner associations based on Tables2 and 3.

Table 2
Concepts and essential aspects considered when studying sustainable development in co-operatives.

Table 4
Overview of the forest owner associations included in this study, data from 2019 annual reports.

Table 5
Employee interviewees and professional role.

Table 6
Members interviews.

Table 7
Vision statements from the forest owners associations in their respective sustainability reports from 2019.