“We grow together”: collective capability development in New York city domestic worker cooperatives

Purpose This study aims to examine how collective capabilities and collective agency emerge in worker cooperatives and how these dynamics empower precarious immigrant domestic workers in New York City. Design/methodology/approach Drawing on 25 in-depth interviews with immigrant women cooperative members, the study uses a directed qualitative content analysis guided by the Capability Approach and its extensions to collective capabilities and agency. Findings Findings show that collective capabilities – opportunities workers achieve only through acting together – are central to empowerment in cooperatives. Members exercise collective agency through democratic decision-making, rotating leadership, mutual support and shared work and income arrangements. These practices enable them to respond effectively to crises and build a level of collective resilience rarely found in the domestic work sector. Practical implications Social enterprises should embed participatory governance and invest in ecosystem partnerships to support sustainable capability development. Originality/value This study advances the Capability Approach by demonstrating how worker cooperatives foster collective agency and enable the development of collective capabilities. It conceptualizes worker cooperatives as institutional conversion factors and the cooperative ecosystem – including peer networks and community organizations – as relational conversion factors. The findings show how individual and collective capabilities are dynamically co-constructed through cooperative participation, highlighting worker cooperatives as a capability-generating model through which precarious workers can expand their opportunities and strengthen their agency.