Although many multinational companies are engaged in sustainability programs in order to upgrade social and environmental conditions within their supply chain, we know little about adoption at the supplier level. Using neo-institutional theory and building on an in-depth case study of a middle-sized supplier of a multinational company in the food industry in Latin America, we explore how the firm integrates the requirements of a supplier development scheme and to what extent these demands are diffused to next-tier suppliers. Our results suggest that coercive pressure alone is more likely to lead to symbolic adoption whereas other relational ties tend to lead to stronger adoption of sustainability practices.
