Switching the Telescope Lens: A Sociomaterial Perspective of Sustainable Agricultural (Proto)Practices Transfer in an Agrifood Supply Chain
Minelle E. Silva, Karina A. Santos, Susana C. F. Pereira, Linda C. Hendry
Journal of Operations Management · 2025 · Volume 71 · Issue 4
Abstract
This study investigates the implementation and transfer of sustainable agricultural practices (SUSAPs) across a multitier agrifood supply chain (SC) using Brazilian poultry farming as the empirical context. We conduct an interpretive case study of buyer–supplier–subsupplier triads, including those certified under Global Good Agricultural Practices (GAP) and noncertified counterparts, using interviews, observations, and secondary data. Adopting a sociomaterial perspective, we investigate how SUSAPs' components—meanings, materials, and competencies—are embedded within specific SC tiers and transferred across the triad. A zoom-in analysis reveals that only animal welfare is a fully adopted practice, whereas waste management, working conditions, and biosecurity remain in development as protopractices. A zoom-out analysis of SUSAPs' components shows limited buyer influence across the triad, while first-tier suppliers facilitate SUSAP transfer. We advance theory by demonstrating how a sociomaterial perspective explains the degree of SUSAPs' implementation and transfer, and introducing theboomerang effect, illustrating how first-tier suppliers enable SUSAP implementation among certified and noncertified subsuppliers to ensure safer and more sustainable products. These insights help managers transfer SUSAPs into their SCs by leveraging first-tier suppliers as boundary spanners.
Keywords
multitier supply chains, sociomaterial perspective, subsuppliers, sustainability practice, sustainable agricultural practice, triads, zoom-in/zoom-out method
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