Rural Women Entrepreneurs Enrolment into Sustainable Supply Chain Networks: From Actor Network Theory Perspective

Abstract

Rural women entrepreneurs in the West African sub-region are focal actors at the bottom of many commodity supply chains. The positions that they occupy in supply chain are susceptible to many forms of sustainability challenges that can obstruct and discourage them from efficiently participating in global supply chains. Despite the critical role of rural women entrepreneurs in the West African subregion has been acknowledged by many, yet the majority of them have not been participated in responsible and sustainable supply chains. In view of these issues, multi-stakeholders are required to collaborate and intervene by developing processes of enrolling rural women entrepreneurs into sustainable supply chain networks. This study presents a case study related to an exploration of the enrolment process utilizing the four moments of translation of the Actor Network Theory (ANT) in the context of the shea butter industry with a cross-border supply chain network. The research found that the enrolment process is shaped by the collaborative relationships within the external context which comprises of several influential stakeholders. Sustainability standards are found to have great potential to serve as an obligatory passage point to transmit sustainability principles to the women within and outside the traditional supply chain networks.