IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/wdevel/v91y2017icp53-69.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Who Governs Socially-Oriented Voluntary Sustainability Standards? Not the Producers of Certified Products

Author

Listed:
  • Bennett, Elizabeth A.

Abstract

Voluntary Sustainability Standards-Setting Organizations (VSSSOs) create standards to improve the social and/or environmental impacts of globalized production networks. VSSSOs are often assumed to have multi-stakeholder governance structures that include the producers of certified products (e.g., farmers, artisans, and workers). This article argues that including producers in governance is desirable. However, analysis of 33 VSSSOs’ constitutions shows two-thirds do not even imply intention to include producers. At most, 25% ensure producers have votes/seats and 18% give producers veto power. The discussion examines what is lost when VSSSOs do not bring traditionally marginalized voices to global economic governance.

Suggested Citation

  • Bennett, Elizabeth A., 2017. "Who Governs Socially-Oriented Voluntary Sustainability Standards? Not the Producers of Certified Products," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 91(C), pages 53-69.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:wdevel:v:91:y:2017:i:c:p:53-69
    DOI: 10.1016/j.worlddev.2016.10.010
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0305750X15305623
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.worlddev.2016.10.010?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Raluca Dragusanu & Daniele Giovannucci & Nathan Nunn, 2014. "The Economics of Fair Trade," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 28(3), pages 217-236, Summer.
    2. Strange,Susan, 1996. "The Retreat of the State," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521564298.
    3. Emmanuelle Cheyns & Lone Riisgaard, 2014. "Introduction to the symposium," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 31(3), pages 409-423, September.
    4. Valerie Nelson & Anne Tallontire, 2014. "Battlefields of ideas: changing narratives and power dynamics in private standards in global agricultural value chains," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 31(3), pages 481-497, September.
    5. Schouten, Greetje & Glasbergen, Pieter, 2012. "Private Multi-stakeholder Governance in the Agricultural Market Place: An Analysis of Legitimization Processes of the Roundtables on Sustainable Palm Oil and Responsible Soy," International Food and Agribusiness Management Review, International Food and Agribusiness Management Association, vol. 15(B), pages 1-26, December.
    6. Corinne Gendron & Véronique Bisaillon & Ana Rance, 2009. "The Institutionalization of Fair Trade: More than Just a Degraded Form of Social Action," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 86(1), pages 63-79, April.
    7. repec:ilo:ilowps:453989 is not listed on IDEAS
    8. repec:elg:eechap:15763_27 is not listed on IDEAS
    9. Mayer, Frederick & Gereffi, Gary, 2010. "Regulation and Economic Globalization: Prospects and Limits of Private Governance," Business and Politics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 12(3), pages 1-25, October.
    10. Henson, Spencer & Masakure, Oliver & Cranfield, John, 2011. "Do Fresh Produce Exporters in Sub-Saharan Africa Benefit from GlobalGAP Certification?," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 39(3), pages 375-386, March.
    11. Hatanaka, Maki, 2010. "Certification, Partnership, and Morality in an Organic Shrimp Network: Rethinking Transnational Alternative Agrifood Networks," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 38(5), pages 706-716, May.
    12. Sigrid Quack, 2010. "Transnational communities and governance," Post-Print hal-01891975, HAL.
    13. repec:elg:eechap:15763_5 is not listed on IDEAS
    14. Barnett, Michael N. & Finnemore, Martha, 1999. "The Politics, Power, and Pathologies of International Organizations," International Organization, Cambridge University Press, vol. 53(4), pages 699-732, October.
    15. Philip H. Howard & Daniel Jaffee, 2013. "Tensions Between Firm Size and Sustainability Goals: Fair Trade Coffee in the United States," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 5(1), pages 1-18, January.
    16. Jens Hainmueller & Michael J. Hiscox & Sandra Sequeira, 2015. "Consumer Demand for Fair Trade: Evidence from a Multistore Field Experiment," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 97(2), pages 242-256, May.
    17. Dragusanu, Raluca & Giovannucci, Daniele & Nunn, Nathan, 2014. "The Economics of Fair Trade," Scholarly Articles 33077828, Harvard University Department of Economics.
    18. Stevis, Dimitris., 2010. "International framework agreements and global social dialogue : parameters and prospects," ILO Working Papers 994539893402676, International Labour Organization.
    19. Donald Schepers, 2010. "Challenges to Legitimacy at the Forest Stewardship Council," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 92(2), pages 279-290, March.
    20. repec:elg:eechap:15763_22 is not listed on IDEAS
    21. Strange,Susan, 1996. "The Retreat of the State," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521564403.
    22. Clemens J. M. Kool & Daniel L. Thornton, 2015. "How Effective Is Central Bank Forward Guidance?," Review, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, vol. 97(4), pages 303-322.
    23. Tran, Nhuong & Bailey, Conner & Wilson, Norbert & Phillips, Michael, 2013. "Governance of Global Value Chains in Response to Food Safety and Certification Standards: The Case of Shrimp from Vietnam," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 45(C), pages 325-336.
    24. Schouten, Greetje & Leroy, Pieter & Glasbergen, Pieter, 2012. "On the deliberative capacity of private multi-stakeholder governance: The Roundtables on Responsible Soy and Sustainable Palm Oil," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 83(C), pages 42-50.
    25. Bacon, Christopher M., 2010. "Who decides what is fair in fair trade? The agri-environmental governance of standards, access, and price," Center for Global, International and Regional Studies, Working Paper Series qt8px4f62v, Center for Global, International and Regional Studies, UC Santa Cruz.
    26. Laura Raynolds & Douglas Murray & Andrew Heller, 2007. "Regulating sustainability in the coffee sector: A comparative analysis of third-party environmental and social certification initiatives," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 24(2), pages 147-163, June.
    27. Taylor, Peter Leigh, 2005. "In the Market But Not of It: Fair Trade Coffee and Forest Stewardship Council Certification as Market-Based Social Change," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 33(1), pages 129-147, January.
    28. Lawrence Busch, 2014. "Governance in the age of global markets: challenges, limits, and consequences," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 31(3), pages 513-523, September.
    29. Brown, L. David & Ebrahim, Alnoor & Batliwala, Srilatha, 2012. "Governing International Advocacy NGOs," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 40(6), pages 1098-1108.
    30. Marsha Dickson & Molly Eckman, 2008. "Media Portrayal of Voluntary Public Reporting About Corporate Social Responsibility Performance: Does Coverage Encourage or Discourage Ethical Management?," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 83(4), pages 725-743, December.
    31. repec:elg:eechap:15763_9 is not listed on IDEAS
    32. Mayer Frederick & Gereffi Gary, 2010. "Regulation and Economic Globalization: Prospects and Limits of Private Governance," Business and Politics, De Gruyter, vol. 12(3), pages 1-27, October.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. van der Ven, Hamish & Sun, Yixian & Cashore, Benjamin, 2021. "Sustainable commodity governance and the global south," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 186(C).
    2. Verena Bitzer & Alessia Marazzi, 2021. "Southern sustainability initiatives in agricultural value chains: a question of enhanced inclusiveness? The case of Trustea in India," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 38(2), pages 381-395, June.
    3. Julia Szulecka, 2019. "Towards Sustainable Wood-Based Energy: Evaluation and Strategies for Mainstreaming Sustainability in the Sector," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(2), pages 1-21, January.
    4. Claudia Coral & Dagmar Mithöfer, 2023. "Contemporary narratives about asymmetries in responsibility in global agri-food value chains: the case of the Ecuadorian stakeholders in the banana value chain," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 40(3), pages 1019-1038, September.
    5. Bacon, Christopher M. & Sundstrom, William A. & Stewart, Iris T. & Maurer, Ed & Kelley, Lisa C., 2021. "Towards smallholder food and water security: Climate variability in the context of multiple livelihood hazards in Nicaragua," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 143(C).
    6. Sun, Yixian & van der Ven, Hamish, 2020. "Swimming in their own direction: Explaining domestic variation in homegrown sustainability governance for aquaculture in Asia," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 167(C).
    7. Matus, Kira & Veale, Michael, 2021. "Certification Systems for Machine Learning: Lessons from Sustainability," SocArXiv pm3wy, Center for Open Science.
    8. Axel Marx, 2018. "Integrating Voluntary Sustainability Standards in Trade Policy: The Case of the European Union’s GSP Scheme," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(12), pages 1-22, November.
    9. Norma Schönherr, 2022. "Same Same but Different? A Quantitative Exploration of Voluntary Sustainability Standards in Agriculture," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(9), pages 1-18, April.
    10. Schleifer, Philip & Fiorini, Matteo & Fransen, Luc, 2019. "Missing the Bigger Picture: A Population-level Analysis of Transnational Private Governance Organizations Active in the Global South," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 164(C), pages 1-1.
    11. Lena Partzsch & Jule Lümmen & Anne-Cathrine Löhr, 2022. "City networks’ power in global agri-food systems," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 39(4), pages 1263-1275, December.
    12. Pavel Castka & Cory Searcy & Sönke Fischer, 2020. "Technology-enhanced Auditing in Voluntary Sustainability Standards: The Impact of COVID-19," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(11), pages 1-24, June.
    13. Oberlack, Christoph & Blare, Trent & Zambrino, Luca & Bruelisauer, Samuel & Solar, Jimena & Villar, Gesabel & Thomas, Evert & Ramírez, Marleni, 2023. "With and beyond sustainability certification: Exploring inclusive business and solidarity economy strategies in Peru and Switzerland," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 165(C).
    14. Anne Marchais-Roubelat & Lahcen Benbihi, 2019. "Démocratie et gouvernance dans la certification commerce équitable : le cas des coopératives féminines de production d’huile d’argan au Maroc," Post-Print hal-02367154, HAL.
    15. Kira J.M. Matus & Michael Veale, 2022. "Certification systems for machine learning: Lessons from sustainability," Regulation & Governance, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 16(1), pages 177-196, January.
    16. Stefano Ponte & Christine Noe & Asubisye Mwamfupe, 2021. "Private and public authority interactions and the functional quality of sustainability governance: Lessons from conservation and development initiatives in Tanzania," Regulation & Governance, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 15(4), pages 1270-1285, October.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Janina Grabs & Graeme Auld & Benjamin Cashore, 2021. "Private regulation, public policy, and the perils of adverse ontological selection," Regulation & Governance, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 15(4), pages 1183-1208, October.
    2. Herkenhoff, Philipp & Krautheim, Sebastian & Semrau, Finn Ole & Steglich, Frauke, 2024. "Corporate Social Responsibility along the global value chain," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 167(C).
    3. Simon L. Bager & Eric F. Lambin, 2020. "Sustainability strategies by companies in the global coffee sector," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(8), pages 3555-3570, December.
    4. Susanne Hartlieb & Bryn Jones, 2009. "Humanising Business Through Ethical Labelling: Progress and Paradoxes in the UK," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 88(3), pages 583-600, September.
    5. Sandra Moog & André Spicer & Steffen Böhm, 2015. "The Politics of Multi-Stakeholder Initiatives: The Crisis of the Forest Stewardship Council," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 128(3), pages 469-493, May.
    6. Otto Hospes, 2014. "Marking the success or end of global multi-stakeholder governance? The rise of national sustainability standards in Indonesia and Brazil for palm oil and soy," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 31(3), pages 425-437, September.
    7. Sarah L. Stattman & Aarti Gupta & Lena Partzsch & Peter Oosterveer, 2018. "Toward Sustainable Biofuels in the European Union? Lessons from a Decade of Hybrid Biofuel Governance," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(11), pages 1-17, November.
    8. Dietz, Thomas & Auffenberg, Jennie & Estrella Chong, Andrea & Grabs, Janina & Kilian, Bernard, 2018. "The Voluntary Coffee Standard Index (VOCSI). Developing a Composite Index to Assess and Compare the Strength of Mainstream Voluntary Sustainability Standards in the Global Coffee Industry," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 150(C), pages 72-87.
    9. Claudia Coral & Dagmar Mithöfer, 2023. "Contemporary narratives about asymmetries in responsibility in global agri-food value chains: the case of the Ecuadorian stakeholders in the banana value chain," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 40(3), pages 1019-1038, September.
    10. Lindsay Naylor, 2014. "“Some are more fair than others”: fair trade certification, development, and North–South subjects," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 31(2), pages 273-284, June.
    11. Daniel Jaffee & Philip H. Howard, 2016. "Who’s the fairest of them all? The fractured landscape of U.S. fair trade certification," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 33(4), pages 813-826, December.
    12. Agni Kalfagianni, 2014. "Addressing the Global Sustainability Challenge: The Potential and Pitfalls of Private Governance from the Perspective of Human Capabilities," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 122(2), pages 307-320, June.
    13. Anja Garbely & Elias Steiner, 2023. "Understanding compliance with voluntary sustainability standards: a machine learning approach," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 25(10), pages 11209-11239, October.
    14. Mikkel Kruuse & Kasper Reming Tangbæk & Kristjan Jespersen & Caleb Gallemore, 2019. "Navigating Input and Output Legitimacy in Multi-Stakeholder Initiatives: Institutional Stewards at Work," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(23), pages 1-27, November.
    15. McWilliam, Sarah E. & Kim, Jung Kwan & Mudambi, Ram & Nielsen, Bo Bernhard, 2020. "Global value chain governance: Intersections with international business," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 55(4).
    16. Thorpe, Jodie, 2018. "Procedural Justice in Value Chains Through Public–private Partnerships," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 103(C), pages 162-175.
    17. Naseemullah, Adnan, 2023. "The political economy of national development: A research agenda after neoliberal reform?," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 168(C).
    18. Raluca Dragusanu & Eduardo Montero & Nathan Nunn, 2022. "The Effects of Fair Trade Certification: Evidence from Coffee Producers in Costa Rica," Journal of the European Economic Association, European Economic Association, vol. 20(4), pages 1743-1790.
    19. Atika Wijaya & Pieter Glasbergen & Pieter Leroy & Ari Darmastuti, 2018. "Governance challenges of cocoa partnership projects in Indonesia: seeking synergy in multi-stakeholder arrangements for sustainable agriculture," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 20(1), pages 129-153, February.
    20. Giordano Ruggeri & Stefano Corsi, 2021. "An Exploratory Analysis of the FAIRTRADE Certified Producer Organisations," World, MDPI, vol. 2(4), pages 1-14, October.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:wdevel:v:91:y:2017:i:c:p:53-69. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/worlddev .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.