Does Fairtrade Certification Meet Producers' Expectations Related to Participating in Mainstream Markets? An Analysis of Advertised Benefits and Perceived Impact

Abstract In this paper, we identify three literature‐based hypotheses about how and whether Fairtrade labeling delivers its advertised benefits: a market mechanism that provides producers in developing countries advantaged access to consumer markets; a sustainable agriculture mechanism that improves the sustainability of Fairtrade products and a social justice mechanism that protects the rights and livelihoods of farmers and workers. We surveyed a broad cross‐section of Fairtrade‐certified producer organizations and compared their expectations with their satisfactions using an importance–performance analysis (IPA), principal component analysis (PCA) and ordered logit regression analyses. According to our results, Fairtrade producers report both high importance and high performance in terms of metrics such as empowering women, democratic decision‐making and reduction of child labor, suggesting that farmers are most satisfied with Fairtrade as a social justice mechanism. Fairtrade producers report high importance but lower performance of Fairtrade as a market mechanism and least satisfaction as a sustainable agriculture mechanism. We explore the drivers and implications of these findings for Fairtrade and provide recommendations to increase producer satisfaction.