This paper seeks to understand how managers of a palm oil plantation in
West Africa sought to formally reconcile contradictory stakeholder expectations
in terms of social sustainability and development while still pursuing business
goals? In particular, this paper looks at how managers applied and adapted tools
for achieving sustainable outcomes (e.g. a Free, Prior and Informed Consent [FPIC]
process) to a complex local context while subject to global pressures acting both
through Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) mechanisms and more directly,
by seeking to influence other stakeholders. Formalised social sustainability,
enacted through e.g. community benefit agreements (CBA’s), is understood to support
firm value (Dorobantu & Odziemkowska, 2017), while also being a key
tenant of the RSPO principles and criteria (RSPO, 2013).

Of interest in this paper are
also the tensions between and within local communities and between local
communities and NGOs. These tensions are interesting because prior research on
palm oil social sustainability has shown that communities are autonomous actors (Marquis & Battilana, 2009) that can use NGO involvement as a
negotiation tool (Köhne, 2014), have interests that NGOs do not
always consistently represent, or may be at odds with NGO aims (Fassin, 2009; Rival & Levang, 2014; Therville,
Feintrenie, & Levang, 2011). This paper adopts an
institutional theory perspective (Oliver, 1991; Scott, 2001) to studying the stakeholder
dynamics (Mitchell, Agle, & Wood, 1997; Schouten & Glasbergen,
2012)
of social sustainability.

This paper applies case study
methodology and ethnography to a narrative process study (Langley, 1999) drawing on the author’s
experience working with the company in West Africa. The case company is an RSPO
certified producer subject to the principles and criteria governing sustainable
palm oil and committed to delivering development in its region of operations by
its concession agreement with the host country government.

Preliminary findings suggest that
while international stakeholders hold significant power towards the firm, achieving
their interpretation of social sustainability is dependent on whether that
interpretation is shared by the impacted community – context dependent factors
play a significant role as do immediate needs. For managers, this study
suggests that understanding and, as far as possible, integrating with host
communities helps achieve a degree of social sustainability, while moderating
the ability of some, but not all, stakeholders to affect the operations of the
company. In sum, social sustainability is not a constant and is subject to
change as a result of both internal tensions and external pressures for change.

Keywords: Social Sustainability, Local Communities, NGOs,
Multi-Stakeholder Initiatives (MSI’s), Roundtable on Sustainable Palm oil
(RSPO).