Evaluating practice-based intervention strategies for collaborative sustainable food supply chains: international experiences

Abstract

Achieving sustainable food supply chains is a global policy priority in response to climate change, resource depletion, biodiversity loss and social inequities embedded in contemporary food systems. However, many interventions remain narrowly focused on individual behavior change rather than on practices and collaborations. This study adopts a social practice theory lens to evaluate practice-based interventions aimed at promoting collaborative sustainable food supply chains (SFSCs) across five countries: Thailand, Taiwan, Germany, Turkey and Sweden. It examines how practice-based interventions informed by social practice theory can support the development of collaborative SFSCs across diverse national contexts. This research uses a framework of three modes of practice change: (1) re-crafting practices, (2) substituting practices and (3) changing how practices interlock. This study analyzes how collaborative intervention strategies address sustainability challenges in food supply chains. The research team follows a critical engaged research approach, working actively with stakeholders to co-create intervention strategies. Data were collected through visioning and back-casting workshops, interviews and stakeholder consultations. The findings show that interventions change how practices interlock, through the reorganization of relationships, revised coordination mechanisms and altered governance arrangements among stakeholders. While contextual conditions in each case shaped the form of interventions, collaboration emerged as a key enabling mechanism for the expansion of SFSCs. This study contributes to social practice theory by operationalizing an analytical and intervention-oriented framework for collaborative food supply chains. The findings offer lessons for policymakers and practitioners by demonstrating how co-created, practice-oriented intervention strategies can support a sustainable transition across varied food systems.