Institutional Reputation and Smallholder Market Access: The Social Dynamics of Oil Palm Seedling Marketing in Indonesia
Abstract
Smallholder access to quality oil palm planting materials is often framed in terms of supply, purchasing capacity, or institutional support, leaving insufficient attention to the social processes through which farmers assess credibility and navigate agricultural markets. This study examines how institutional reputation, trust, social networks, and institutional arrangements shape smallholders’ access to quality oil palm seedlings in Indonesia, focusing on the Indonesian Oil Palm Research Institute (PPKS) as a recognized provider of planting materials. Using an interpretive qualitative case study, the research draws on in-depth interviews, observations, and institutional and policy documents involving PPKS, distributors, farmer organizations, extension agents, and smallholders. Data were analyzed through reflexive thematic analysis to trace how institutional credibility is constructed, circulated, and translated into market access. The findings indicate that PPKS’s institutional reputation functions as a mechanism for reducing uncertainty in a market where the future performance of planting materials cannot be directly observed at the point of purchase. Yet reputation alone does not ensure equitable access. Its practical value is mediated by information flows, social networks, distribution channels, geographical distance, administrative requirements, and farmers’ institutional positioning. The study advances a relational understanding of institutional reputation as a socially embedded market resource and demonstrates that smallholder access is produced through interactions between credibility, trust, networks, and institutional structures.
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Copyright (c) 2026 Muhammad Husyaini Iqbal, Rulianda Purnomo Wibowo, Isfenti Sadalia
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