IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/taf/jdevef/v6y2014i3p268-283.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

FairTrade's theory of change: an evaluation based on the cooperative life cycle framework and mixed methods

Author

Listed:
  • Gian Nicola Francesconi
  • Ruerd Ruben

Abstract

This study presents a quasi-experimental analysis of the impact of FairTrade certification on the commercial performance of coffee farmers in Tanzania. In doing so the study emphasises the importance of a well-contextualised theory of change as a basis for evaluation design. It also stresses the value of qualitative methods to control for selection bias. Based on a longitudinal (pseudo-panel) dataset comprising both certified and conventional farmers, it shows that FairTrade certification introduced a disincentive to farmers' commercialisation. We explain this counterintuitive conclusion on the basis of the 'cooperative life cycle' theory developed by US agribusiness scholars.

Suggested Citation

  • Gian Nicola Francesconi & Ruerd Ruben, 2014. "FairTrade's theory of change: an evaluation based on the cooperative life cycle framework and mixed methods," Journal of Development Effectiveness, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 6(3), pages 268-283, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:jdevef:v:6:y:2014:i:3:p:268-283
    DOI: 10.1080/19439342.2014.918164
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/19439342.2014.918164
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1080/19439342.2014.918164?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. repec:pru:wpaper:11 is not listed on IDEAS
    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. Victor Stolzenburg & Daria Taglioni & Deborah Winkler, 2019. "Economic upgrading through global value chain participation: which policies increase the value-added gains?," Chapters, in: Stefano Ponte & Gary Gereffi & Gale Raj-Reichert (ed.), Handbook on Global Value Chains, chapter 30, pages 483-505, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    2. Abraham, Mathew & Verteramo Chiu, Leslie & Joshi, Ekta & Ali Ilahi, Muhammad & Pingali, Prabhu, 2022. "Aggregation models and small farm commercialization – A scoping review of the global literature," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 110(C).
    3. Gian Nicola FRANCESCONI & Fleur WOUTERSE, 2019. "Building The Managerial Capital Of Agricultural Cooperatives In Africa," Annals of Public and Cooperative Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 90(1), pages 141-159, March.
    4. Oya, Carlos & Schaefer, Florian & Skalidou, Dafni, 2018. "The effectiveness of agricultural certification in developing countries: A systematic review," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 112(C), pages 282-312.
    5. Nicola Francesconi & Fleur Wouterse & Dorothy Birungi Namuyiga, 2021. "Agricultural Cooperatives and COVID-19 in Southeast Africa. The Role of Managerial Capital for Rural Resilience," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(3), pages 1-13, January.
    6. Gian Nicola Francesconi & Fleur Wouterse, 2022. "The potential of land shareholding cooperatives for inclusive agribusiness development in Africa," Annals of Public and Cooperative Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 93(1), pages 161-176, March.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    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:taf:jdevef:v:6:y:2014:i:3:p:268-283. 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: Chris Longhurst (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.tandfonline.com/RJDE20 .

    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.