Legitimacy-seeking purposes driving the implementation of traceability and sustainability
| Case | Most significant quotation on legitimacy-seeking purposes | First level coding | Second level coding: Legitimacy form | Sustainability practices included in the traceability processes | Traceability for sustainability |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| A | “it is not a traditional coffee, it is a speaking product, communicating to customers additional information that they want to know” | Focus on direct benefits (i.e. more informative content) for customers | Pragmatic legitimacy | Collaboration with NGOs for the provision of facilities and development projects aimed at increasing farmers independence, with own and sufficient income sources from coffee cultivation | Synergistic |
| B1, B2 | “In addition to the operative benefits that connects to a better monitoring of the chain, we can use both traceability systems (both QR-code and certifications) to better communicate with final costumers that the product incorporates ethical values, in this way the customers' willingness to pay is higher" | Demonstrating the ethical values of the company to customers to charge a higher price | Pragmatic legitimacy | Coffee producers are paid a fair price plus a quality premium | B1: Synergistic |
| Continuous farmer training about sustainable agronomic techniques and about risk prevention | B2: Synergistic | ||||
| C | “it (i.e. the technology) allows us to track the localization of the truck to assure quality. For us quality means a transportation in the right time, in line with the costumer request” | Focus on direct benefits (i.e. quality and service level) for customers | Pragmatic legitimacy | The GPS tracking system allows monitoring parameters like temperature and humidity in the storage. The timely indication of critical values in these parameters can support food waste prevention | Complementary |
| D | “Despite at that time there were several certifications, they were all at the expenses of the producers … Instead our proprietary certification does not create any extra expenses for the farmers” | Promotion of farmers’ well-being justifies ad hoc certification effort | Moral legitimacy | 100% of farmers are audited. Farmers' continuous development and sustainability: Training on good agricultural practices, incentives and rewards systems, continuous monitoring, social initiatives. A higher price is paid to guarantee an adequate income | Synergistic |
| E | “We have to put quality at the first place, this is what customers expect from a specialty coffee, that is, good quality” | Sustainability and quality are taken for granted by customers | Cognitive legitimacy | All the sustainability initiatives are required to first-tier suppliers. No standard certification schemes are adopted because they are not compatible with company E's quality standards | Disconnected |
| F1, F2 | CERTIFICATION (F1): “we wanted to go further than only certifications, it has been a good start for a couple of years but we need to be able to respond to what farmers need and so to develop our own responsible sourcing program” | F1: Promotion of farmers’ well-being justify ad-hoc traceability effort | F1: Moral legitimacy | Cross-sectoral partnerships with NGOs and certification bodies to reach the farmers and implement development initiatives: Improve farmers' welfare, transfer of entrepreneurial skills | F1: Synergistic |
| QR CODE (F2): “The more you can target the information that you communicate to individuals, the better the identification of consumers with the actual farmers … That means moving to data collection to story-telling" | F2: Focus on direct benefits (i.e. storytelling) for customers | F2: Pragmatic legitimacy | Sustainable initiatives differ depending on the different challenges of the specific geographical or social context | F2: Complementary | |
| G | “The certified coffee supply chain has clear labels which might trigger customers' interest. The percentage of certified coffee is however low, because generally the market does not pay the cost of certification” | Demonstrating the ethical values of the company if “the market pays the cost” | Pragmatic legitimacy | Cross-sectoral partnership with NGOs and certification bodies to reach the farmers and implement development initiatives. Other initiatives are delegated to the trader | Disconnected |
| Case | Most significant quotation on legitimacy-seeking purposes | First level coding | Second level coding: Legitimacy form | Sustainability practices included in the traceability processes | Traceability for sustainability |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| A | “it is not a traditional coffee, it is a speaking product, communicating to customers additional information that they want to know” | Focus on direct benefits (i.e. more informative content) for customers | Pragmatic legitimacy | Collaboration with NGOs for the provision of facilities and development projects aimed at increasing farmers independence, with own and sufficient income sources from coffee cultivation | Synergistic |
| B1, B2 | “In addition to the operative benefits that connects to a better monitoring of the chain, we can use both traceability systems (both QR-code and certifications) to better communicate with final costumers that the product incorporates ethical values, in this way the customers' willingness to pay is higher" | Demonstrating the ethical values of the company to customers to charge a higher price | Pragmatic legitimacy | Coffee producers are paid a fair price plus a quality premium | B1: Synergistic |
| Continuous farmer training about sustainable agronomic techniques and about risk prevention | B2: Synergistic | ||||
| C | “it (i.e. the technology) allows us to track the localization of the truck to assure quality. For us quality means a transportation in the right time, in line with the costumer request” | Focus on direct benefits (i.e. quality and service level) for customers | Pragmatic legitimacy | The GPS tracking system allows monitoring parameters like temperature and humidity in the storage. The timely indication of critical values in these parameters can support food waste prevention | Complementary |
| D | “Despite at that time there were several certifications, they were all at the expenses of the producers … Instead our proprietary certification does not create any extra expenses for the farmers” | Promotion of farmers’ well-being justifies | Moral legitimacy | 100% of farmers are audited. Farmers' continuous development and sustainability: Training on good agricultural practices, incentives and rewards systems, continuous monitoring, social initiatives. A higher price is paid to guarantee an adequate income | Synergistic |
| E | “We have to put quality at the first place, this is what customers expect from a specialty coffee, that is, good quality” | Sustainability and quality are taken for granted by customers | Cognitive legitimacy | All the sustainability initiatives are required to first-tier suppliers. No standard certification schemes are adopted because they are not compatible with company E's quality standards | Disconnected |
| F1, F2 | CERTIFICATION (F1): “we wanted to go further than only certifications, it has been a good start for a couple of years but we need to be able to respond to what farmers need and so to develop our own responsible sourcing program” | F1: Promotion of farmers’ well-being justify ad-hoc traceability effort | F1: Moral legitimacy | Cross-sectoral partnerships with NGOs and certification bodies to reach the farmers and implement development initiatives: Improve farmers' welfare, transfer of entrepreneurial skills | F1: Synergistic |
| QR CODE (F2): “The more you can target the information that you communicate to individuals, the better the identification of consumers with the actual farmers … That means moving to data collection to story-telling" | F2: Focus on direct benefits (i.e. storytelling) for customers | F2: Pragmatic legitimacy | Sustainable initiatives differ depending on the different challenges of the specific geographical or social context | F2: Complementary | |
| G | “The certified coffee supply chain has clear labels which might trigger customers' interest. The percentage of certified coffee is however low, because generally the market does not pay the cost of certification” | Demonstrating the ethical values of the company if “the market pays the cost” | Pragmatic legitimacy | Cross-sectoral partnership with NGOs and certification bodies to reach the farmers and implement development initiatives. Other initiatives are delegated to the trader | Disconnected |
Sharing content requires targeting cookies to be enabled. Please update your cookie preferences to use this feature.