The antecedents of trust in the CSA cooperation
Based on a qualitative methodology, our research has as main objective to analyze the mechanisms of building and maintaining trust in the cooperation concluded between an agricultural entrepreneur and a group of consumer’s members of a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA). More specifically, our research question is dedicated to the respective roles of relational trust and institutional trust in the emergence and stability in time of the CSA cooperation. Our results allow us to conclude that establishing relational trust not only proceeds from face-to-face but also virtual exchanges with the agricultural entrepreneur. As for the establishment of institutional trust, it is generated by the signing of a contract, the existence of an organic label or even the reference to a national charter. Our study also confirmed the fragile nature of the CSA cooperation mentioned in the literature and related to the diversity of consumers’ motivations and commitments and to the competition from other forms of agricultural distribution.