1 Changing Values – a Repeated Study of Farmers’ Attitudes towards Directors of Cooperatives by

On the basis of empirical data from 1993/94 and 2003, this study investigates mem-bers ’ attitudes towards directors and the democratic process as such. The aim of the study is to determine whether the members of agricultural cooperatives have changed their attitudes towards directors and the member democracy during a ten-year period. Using Agency theory as the theoretical framework, members ’ attitudes towards directors are analyzed. The main results of the analysis are that farmers ’ attitudes to the cooperative management seem to be less positive, and they view themselves as being more competent than the management. In addition, both the follow-up problem and the control problem have increased between 1993/94 and 2003