Fairtrade credentialism: towards understanding certified producer organizations’ perceptions of Fairtrade as a credential

ABSTRACT

Fairtrade is a transnational voluntary labelling initiative that aims to upgrade the social, economic, and environmental conditions of producers in developing countries. In this paper, we systematically translated, coded, and analysed open-ended responses from a global survey of Fairtrade producers to explore how Fairtrade operates as a credential. The credentialism literature sheds light on Fairtrade's ability to create social and economic mobility, the operation of positive and negative selection processes and the hidden curriculum. We conclude with research and policy recommendations, including the need for the research community and Fairtrade International to track and monitor initial conditions of Fairtrade producers and measure progress over time to improve understanding of how Fairtrade operates as a credential and structures the social and economic mobility of developing country producers.

KEYWORDS:

• Fairtrade
• sustainable development
• private certification
• credentialism
• social and economic mobility
• environmental governance

Acknowledgements

We would like to thank our research assistants Lindsay Short who helped set up the survey and Maria Romero, Pongruethai Wakefield, and Hasin Sharma who helped translate, code, and analyze the data. We would also like to thank Cristina Ramos, Saskia van Wees, Gabrielle Monte de Oca, and three anonymous reviewers whose comments and suggestions greatly improved the article. Finally, we would like to thank the producers who have taken the time to complete our survey and shared their experiences with Fairtrade certification.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Anne Mook

Anne Mook is a PhD candidate of the Department of Sociology and Criminology & Law at the University of Florida. Her research interest all centre on various domains within environmental and resource sociology and include the product certification and the construction of market value chains.

Christine Overdevest

Christine Overdevest is an Associate Professor of the Department of Sociology and Criminology & Law at the University of Florida. Her research interest all centre on various domains within environmental and resource sociology, and include the regulatory and new governance approaches to environmental reform.