Social sustainability in food value chains

Résumé

Nowadays, sustainability is a trending topic for firms, governments and multi-lateral organizations. Although it includes three dimensions -environmental, economic and social-, most studies have left behind the social dimension because of its complexity and the lack of consensus on its conceptualization. With a qualitative-exploratory approach through in-depth interviews with high-level authorities, this research intends to clarify it by integrating different perspectives. With this aim, the paper adopts a food value chain instead the firm-centric supply chain perspective, integrating different actors working in diverse steps of the value chain. Findings emphasize the necessity to include the social dimension in the sustainability analysis. It requires a whole food value chain perspective, incorporating different sensibilities and including in its measurement working conditions, quality of life, education, cultural protection, food safety and final customer involvement. With an adjustment to the contingencies of the market under analysis to capture the difficult reality of developing economies.