The Role of Certification in the Development of Collaborations Between Actors With Partially Distinct Logics: The Case of Fair Trade
How does ethical certification affect collaborations between partners with partially distinct institutional logics, for example fair trade enterprises and corporate retailers? By comparing collaborations with and without recourse to fair trade certification in Belgium, we observe that this certification makes it possible to multiply and standardize these collaborations. However, it also maintains power relations in their economic dimension and limits the potential for mutual enrichment. In the absence of certification, negotiations are specific to each collaboration, which hinders their replication but allows greater mutual enrichment of partners.