Brokering for the Benefit of Others: How Purpose-Driven Organizations Create Sustainable Supply Chains

Structural holes in global supply chains isolate suppliers in low- and middle-income economies from buyers and consumers in high-income economies, hindering the accomplishment of sustainability goals. Previous research has studied how for-profit organizations bridge these structural holes. This study examines how purpose-driven organizations, which place their purpose above profits to improve farmers' livelihoods in coffee supply chains, bridge the same structural holes. Knowledge on structural holes is elaborated by exploring the brokering activities of these purpose-driven organizations. This is accomplished by analyzing case data from 31 purpose-driven organizations: nine cases of sourcing intermediaries and exporters in Colombia and 22 cases of roasters and importers in the Netherlands (NL), United States (US), and United Kingdom (UK). The cases are grouped and compared according to their primary activities, with the average or typical case as the unit of analysis. The findings unpack an approach to brokerage motivated by the purpose-driven organizations' goal of improving the livelihoods of marginalized suppliers. Their approach to brokerage centers around aligning, empowering, educating, and mobilizing practices and the legitimation of novel practices in regulative, normative, and cognitive domains. This is achieved through either single-direction or multi-stakeholder brokerage. The study contributes to society by considering the implications for other entities and global supply chains of exemplar organizations' innovative approaches to sustainability issues.