Global agri-food supply chains (SCs) are under public scrutiny to ensure the sustainable production of agricultural commodities. However, many producers of these commodities face difficulties in meeting the sustainability requirements of global markets due to challenges arising from their local operating contexts. The purpose of this study is to provide insights into how the community in agri-food SCs manages to work towards social frameworks that contribute to the adoption of sustainable production practices at the farm level. To better understand this phenomenon, our research utilized the concept of institutional work in combination with the notion of the SC field. A case study focusing on the context of global agri-food SC was conducted, combining empirical data from the cocoa and coffee industries into a single case. The research presents different forms of institutional work, classified as either boundary work or practice work. Departing from traditional institutional studies in sustainable supply chain management, our study adopts a novel perspective to explain how the purposive actions of individual and collective actors contribute to the institutionalization of sustainable practices in global SCs.
