Trust in Sustainable Food Chains: Trust Building in Inter-organisational Relationships in the Organic Food Sector

Firms operating in the agricultural and food sector encounter multifaceted challenges of quality competition. It transcends not only on food safety and health-related product attributes but also on the firms’ capacity to reduce adverse social and environmental impacts throughout the supply chain. Given the increasing complexity of food production in general, and the growing importance of addressing sustainability issues in particular, collaborative relationships within the supply chain play a critical role. Especially sustainable production requires enhanced coordination efforts, due to information asymmetries that create loopholes for food fraud and greenwashing. Trust plays a fundamental role in the coordination and governance of supply chains and is considered a key relational resource for enhancing buyer–supplier collaboration. The overall aim of this dissertation was to enhance the understanding of trust-building mechanisms in inter-organisational relationships and to explore the extent to which trust building can be actively managed to enhance collaboration. The conceptual framework developed in this thesis is based on literature from supply chain management research and organization studies. A qualitative case study approach was employed to investigate how supply chain partners can influence the development of trust through relational and contractual governance, and to what extent institutional arrangements also influence trust building. The qualitative data analysis of the two case studies from the organic food sector in Cuba (single-case holistic design) and Germany (single-case embedded design) was based on empirical data gathered through qualitative research interviews, a group discussion, and grey literature on certification practices and quality management. The findings show the fundamental importance of relationship management in building trust between supply chain partners in both regional and international contexts of sustainable food production. Relational governance through regular communication and intensified information exchange is essential not only for ensuring product and process quality and transparency but also for achieving effective coordination of sustainability efforts. Contractual governance is equally important and must go beyond its safeguarding function so as not to inhibit the willingness to find joint solutions to supply chain problems. Shared learning experiences in dealing with fluctuations in quality, quantity, and prices, as well as capability-building, can further promote trust building and thus actively improve collaboration within buyer–supplier relationships. The results of this thesis demonstrate that mechanisms inherent to institutional approaches, such as organic farming certifications, also contribute to the development of institutional trust. However, if the underlying control procedures focus solely on detecting nonconformities and standard violations, rather than promoting an improved exchange of information along the supply chain, formal control can lead to mistrust and hinder further cooperation. Furthermore, this thesis highlights that the shared behavioural norms and principles within the Organic Farming Movement provide a normative foundation that aligns the expectations and behaviour of business partners. They serve as social control and contribute to building trust in regional and international supply chain relationships. Finally, the conceptual framework and empirical findings of this dissertation offer both theoretical and practical implications, as well as avenues for future research on trust in the fields of supply chain management and organizational research. Specifically, despite the influence of different contextual factors on management decisions in regional and international supply chain relationships, the factors that constitute the propensity to trust in business partners — namely, regular communication and intensive information exchange, shared learning, and capability-building — remain similar. In addition to these determining factors, power may also be considered in future research to gain a more precise understanding of trust development.