“Our fair trade coffee tastes better”: It might, but under what conditions?

• Published date: 01 June 2022
• Author: Stuart C. Carr,Ines Meyer,Mahima Saxena,Christian Seubert,Lisa Hopfgartner,Bimal Arora,Divya Jyoti,Robert Rugimbana,Heather Kempton,Leo Marai
• Date: 01 June 2022
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/joca.12416

ARTICLE

“Our fair trade coffee tastes better”:

It might, but under what conditions?

Stuart C. Carr

1,2

| Ines Meyer

1,3

| Mahima Saxena

1,4

|

Christian Seubert

1,5

| Lisa Hopfgartner

1,5

|

Bimal Arora

1,6

| Divya Jyoti

1,7

| Robert Rugimbana

1,8

|

Heather Kempton

1,2

| Leo Marai

1,9

1

Project GLOW (Global Living Organisational Wage)

2

School of Psychology, Massey University, Albany, New Zealand

3

School of Management Studies, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa

4

Department of Psychology, University of Nebraska Omaha, Omaha, Nebraska, USA

5

Department of Psychology, University of Innsbruck, Innsbruck, Austria

6

Centre for Enterprise & Strategy, Enterprise and Sustainability Department, Manchester Metropolitan University,

Oxford Road, Manchester, UK

7

Faculty of Business and Law, De Montfort University, Leicester, UK

8

Faculty of Management Sciences, Tshwane University of Technology, Pretoria, South Africa

9

Department of Psychology, University of Papua New Guinea, Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea

Correspondence

Ines Meyer, School of Management

Studies, University of Cape Town, Private

Bag, Rondebosch 7701, South Africa.

Email: ines.meyer@uct.ac.za

Funding information

South African National Research

Foundation, Human and Social Dynamics

Initiative, Grant/Award Number: 115573;

National Research Foundation

Abstract

The sustainability of Fair Trade ultimately relies on con-

sumers choosing fair-traded products. To date, research

has tended to study consumer and producer engage-

ment, and reactions to Fair Trade separately. These

areas do, however, interconnect systematically through

supply chains. In this paper, we introduce a self-

catalyzing model of Fair Trade which acknowledges

those interconnections, traces them along supply chains

from producer to consumer and addresses different

international development priorities articulated in the

United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. Its con-

ceptual elements span (a) product quality, in this case,

taste experience influenced by organoleptic properties

Received: 31 August 2020 Revised: 27 May 2021 Accepted: 16 August 2021

DOI: 10.1111/joca.12416

Copyright 2021 by The American Council on Consumer Interests

J Consum Aff. 2022;56:597–612. wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/joca 597

and moral satisfaction; (b) organizational morality via

corporate social responsibility and living wages; and

(c) strategic management of slack farming resources—

each catalyzed by, and catalyzing, positive emotions.

Contingencies at each point in the model alterthe likeli-

hood that produce will be and feel fair and taste better

to consumers.

KEYWORDS

living wages, supply chains, sustainable consumption

1|INTRODUCTION

Fair Trade connects a range of stakeholders by linking small-scale primary producers, interna-

tional trade, business practices, and standards to end-user consumers. Lotz et al. (2013) were

able to show that to those consumers fair-traded produce can and does sometimes taste better.

The evidence additionally shows that consumers can be both (i) willing to buy Fair Trade prod-

ucts; and (ii) financially able to pay the higher price that Fair Trade commands against compet-

ing conventional, non-Fair Trade products (De Pelsmacker et al., 2005; De Pelsmacker &

Janssens, 2007; Konuk, 2019), suggesting a potential virtuous circle back from consumers to pri-

mary producers. For businesses, this implies that Fair Trade principles and product quality can

be valuable marketing tools (Obermiller et al., 2009). At least one major multinational company

has used this principle by deploying the marketing slogan “Our Fair Trade coffee tastes better.”

Fundamentally, the ethos of fair trade

1

is not just about business and consumer affairs or

benefits (Abad-Vergara, 2012). It also instantiates (a) decent, that is, fair and socially protected

work conditions and (b) nurturing work engagements for small-scale primary producers and all

others in the supply chain from plant to palate (International Labour Organization, 2019a). Fair

trade thus implies roles for multiple stakeholders and economic, social as well as sensory good

(Andorfer & Liebe, 2012) and aligns with the ethos of the world's most ambitious plan for

human development, the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs; United Nations, 2020a).

Within the SDGs, one goal in particular stands out on consumer affairs—SDG-12: Ensuring

Sustainable Consumption and Production patterns (United Nations, 2020b). The SDGs are

interrelated, and interdependent, however. For example, the concept of a global and/or local

supply chain suggests that SDG-12, an outcome goal, may be linked to SDG-17 (partnership for

development), a process goal required to achieve sustainable consumption and production pat-

terns, and other related, and interrelated, outcomes. These may range from a Fair Trade system

potentially helping to improve work conditions (SDG-8) and reduce societal inequality

(SDG-10) to peace in society (SDG-16). Global price shocks, for example, can push potential

and actual small-scale farmers and producers away from growing fair-traded coffee toward

illicit cocaine and thus increase societal conflicts (Dube & Vargas, 2013).

Here, we propose the socially conscious fair-trade model outlined in Figure 1which pro-

vides the mechanisms through which Fair Trade may result in greater quality produce, thus

benefitting the consumer, while also providing greater sustainability along the supply chain via

a self-catalyzing feedback loop that rests on the psychology of human emotions.

598 CARR ET AL.