PurposeThis paper aims to examine the impact of social capital and self-efficacy in the performance of producer organizations. It also tests the mediating influence of self-efficacy in the relationship of social capital and performance of producer organizations.Design/methodology/approachThe study used data from a survey of 226 members of farmer producer organizations (FPO) in India. The model was tested through structural equation modeling wherein all hypotheses were tested using “R” studio.FindingsThe findings reveal that social capital and self-efficacy play a significant role in predicting the performance of FPO. It was found that in the process of social capital influencing the performance of FPO, self-efficacy plays a significant role as a partial mediator with a mediating effect of approximately 69.28%.Research limitations/implicationsThe study considered only one antecedent while identifying the reasons for perceived performance of FPOs. Hence, further studies of the various other constructs such as attitude, subjective norms, etc., may be considered.Originality/valueNo previous work has examined the mediating role of self-efficacy in the relationship between social capital and perceived performance of FPO. This study is possibly the only one that joins two streams of thought – social capital and self-efficacy – to examine the performance of FPO.