Importer Views of Private Certification: A Comparative Analysis between the Netherlands and the United States

• In Event: 2251 - Section on Environmental Sociology Roundtables (1 hour)
  In Refereed Roundtable 60min: 17. Industry: Environmentalism and Anti-environmentalism

Abstract

This paper presents findings related to the social construction of certified citrus markets comparing the three different explanatory approaches outlined in the literature review: attitudinal drivers for the construction of certified markets, comparative political economy factors, and the organization of global value chains. I use a quantitative phone survey data with importers in the Netherlands and in the United States (N=117) from 2017 to compare the two countries and the importance of the three exploratory approaches. The results show that importers rate market opportunities as the most important attitudinal driver. Furthermore, the study finds significant differences in the national political economic systems especially regarding more demand for and buying third-party certification in the Netherlands. Furthermore, regarding the attitudinal drivers, importers in the Netherlands are more motivated to buy certified products because of socio-environmental and market aspects of third-party certification, while American importers were more driven by liability aspects. Finally, I show that selling to retailers and buyer request for third-party certification are the most important value chain predictors. Comparing these three explanations for the construction of certified markets, I show that global value chain theory best predicts the social construction of certified citrus markets.

Author

• Anne Mook, American University of Sharjah