A Qualitative Case Study of a Community-Based Knowledge Intermediary Support Independent Smallholders

Sustainable palm oil certification, such as the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO), was introduced as a voluntary global scheme to promote environmentally responsible palm oil production. The certification has become an important mechanism for strengthening sustainability practices in the palm oil sector while also aiming to improve socio-economic outcomes among independent smallholders. However, independent smallholders often face challenges in adopting and maintaining RSPO certification due to limited access to technical knowledge, administrative capacity, and institutional support, resulting in a gap between formal sustainability standards and everyday farming practices. This study examines how a community-based knowledge intermediary facilitates knowledge transfer to support independent smallholders in sustaining RSPO certification, drawing on a social innovation perspective. A qualitative case study approach was employed, involving in-depth interviews with members of a smallholder association and representatives from supporting institutions in Johor, Malaysia, supplemented by field observations and document analysis. The data were analyzed using QSR NVivo version 14. The findings indicate that the intermediary organization plays a critical role in translating certification requirements into practical, locally relevant guidance, delivering training programs, and assisting smallholders in record-keeping and compliance processes. These mechanisms enhance smallholders’ capacity to understand and sustain certification requirements over time. This study contributes to the literature on sustainability certification and social innovation by demonstrating how community-based knowledge intermediaries function as mediating actors that bridge institutional sustainability standards and local smallholder practices, thereby supporting the long-term sustainability of certification systems in resource-constrained contexts.