Türkiye’de Adil Ticaretin Benimsenmesinin Modellemesi: Davranışsal Mikroekonomik Bir Yaklaşım

Öz

Bu çalışma, Fair Trade (Adil Ticaret) uygulamalarının benimsenmesini açıklamak amacıyla firma ve tüketici kararlarını politika ve kurumsal etkenlerle ilişkilendiren davranışsal bir mikroekonomik model geliştirmektedir. Model, Türkiye gibi gelişmekte olan ekonomilerde Fair Trade piyasalarının neden yeterince gelişmediğini açıklayabilmek için fayda teorisini genişleterek ahlaki fayda, kurumsal güven ve bilgi asimetrisi unsurlarını içermektedir. Üretici tarafında Fair Trade’e katılım, sertifikasyon maliyetleri, beklenen fiyat primi ve itibar kazancı arasındaki dengeye dayalı risk ayarlı bir karar süreci olarak tanımlanmıştır. Tüketici tarafında ise etik sertifikalı ürünlere yönelik ödeme istekliliği, gelir düzeyi, sertifikasyonun güvenilirliği algısı ve ahlaki tatminin önemiyle ilişkilendirilmiştir. Model, düşük güven ve yüksek sertifikasyon maliyetlerinin piyasada davranışsal bir koordinasyon eksikliğine yol açtığını, buna karşılık güvenilir kurumlar ve uygun teşviklerin daha yüksek katılımlı bir dengeyi mümkün kıldığını göstermektedir. Sonuçlara göre, sertifikasyon maliyetlerinin azaltılması ve kurumsal güvenin güçlendirilmesinin hem üretici katılımını hem de tüketici talebini artırmaktadır. Türkiye bağlamında, ulusal akreditasyon kurumlarının kurulması, farkındalık kampanyalarının yürütülmesi ve sertifikasyon süreçlerine mali destek sağlanması gibi politikaların Fair Trade’in yayılımını hızlandırabileceği öngörülmektedir. Çalışma, sürdürülebilirlik konusunda davranışsal iktisat literatürüne katkı sağlayarak, kurumsal yapı ve ahlaki tercihlerin piyasa oluşumu üzerindeki etkilerini açıklamakta ve etik ticaret sistemlerinin güçlendirilmesine yönelik politika önerileri sunmaktadır.

Anahtar Kelimeler

• Adil Ticaret
• Mikroekonomik Modelleme
• Davranışsal İktisat
• Fayda Maksimizasyonu
• Güven
• Tüketici ve Üretici Davranışı
• Sürdürülebilirlik
• Türkiye

Modeling Fair Trade Adoption in Türkiye: A Behavioral Microeconomic Perspective

Öz

This study develops a behavioral microeconomic model of Fair Trade adoption that integrates firm- and consumer-level decision mechanisms with policy and institutional dynamics. The framework extends utility theory by incorporating moral utility, institutional trust, and information asymmetry to explain why Fair Trade markets remain underdeveloped in emerging economies such as Türkiye. On the producer side, adoption is modeled as a risk-adjusted optimization problem in which firms balance certification costs, expected price premiums, and reputational gains. On the consumer side, willingness to pay for ethically certified goods depends on income constraints, perceived credibility of certification, and the salience of moral satisfaction. The model identifies multiple equilibria, showing that low trust and high certification costs trap the market in a coordination failure. In contrast, credible institutions and targeted incentives can shift the system toward a high-participation equilibrium. Results show that reductions in certification costs and increases in institutional credibility jointly enhance both consumer demand and producer participation. Applied to the Turkish context, the results indicate that policy interventions—such as the establishment of domestic accreditation agencies, awareness campaigns, and fiscal support for certification—can generate strong network effects that accelerate the diffusion of Fair Trade. The paper contributes to behavioral economics in the topic of sustainability by linking institutional design and moral preferences to market formation, providing policy guidance for developing inclusive and credible ethical trade systems.

Anahtar Kelimeler

• Fair Trade
• Microeconomic Modeling
• Behavioral Economics
• Utility Maximization
• Trust
• Consumer and Producer Behavior
• Sustainability
• Türkiye

Kaynakça

1. Andorfer, V. A. and Liebe, U. (2011). Research on fair trade consumption—a review. Journal of Business Ethics, 106(4), 415-435. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-011-1008-5
2. Andreoni, J. (1990). Impure altruism and donations to public goods: A theory of warm glow giving. The Economic Journal, 100(401), 464. https://doi.org/10.2307/2234133
3. Ataseven, Y. (2023). Evaluation of the possible effects of the European Green Deal process on agricultural policies in Türkiye. Journal of Agricultural Sciences (Tarim Bilimleri Dergisi), 29(1), 13-25. https://doi.org/10.15832/ankutbd.1108754
4. Bird, K. and Hughes, D. (1997). Ethical consumerism: the case of “fairly–traded” coffee. Business Ethics a European Review, 6(3), 159-167. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-8608.00063
5. Borlu, Y. (2015). A story of post‐fordist exploitation: financialization and small‐scale maize farmers in Turkey. Rural Sociology, 80(2), 173-197. https://doi.org/10.1111/ruso.12061
6. Çakırlı Akyüz, N., & Theuvsen, L. (2020). The impact of behavioral drivers on adoption of sustainable agricultural practices: The case of organic farming in Turkey. Sustainability, 12(17), 6875. https://doi.org/10.3390/su12176875
7. Eberhardt, T., Hubert, M., Lischka, H. M., Hubert, M., & Lin, Z. (2021). The role of subjective knowledge and perceived trustworthiness in fair trade consumption for fashion and food products. Journal of Consumer Marketing, 38(1), 58–68. https://doi.org/10.1108/JCM-08-2019-3356
8. Fair Trade International. (2025, July 1). Fairtrade adds Türkiye to its list of producer countries. English. https://www.fairtrade.net/en/fairtrade-adds-tuerkiye-to-its-list-of-producer-countries.html

9. Hayran, S. (2019). Perceptions of wheat producers towards risk and risk management strategies: a case study from Turkey. Ciência Rural, 49(12). https://doi.org/10.1590/0103-8478cr20190396
10. Jin, Y., Shin, Y., Park, S., & Koh, A. (2016). What do you think of fair trade? focusing on young korean consumers in an emerging fair trade market.. https://doi.org/10.31274/itaa_proceedings-180814-1700
11. Kahneman, D., & Tversky, A. (1979). Prospect theory: An analysis of decision under risk. Econometrica, 47(2), 263. https://doi.org/10.2307/1914185
12. Kapusuz, S., & Kimzan, H. S. (2016). The role of fair trade trust on the relationship of fair trade knowledge, fair trade adhesion, and willingness to pay fair trade premium: The case of Turkey. Turkish Journal of Business Ethics, 9(1). https://doi.org/10.12711/tjbe.2016.9.0019
13. Konuk, F. A. (2019). Consumers' willingness to buy and willingness to pay for fair trade food: The influence of consciousness for fair consumption, environmental concern, trust and innovativeness. Food Research International, 120, 141-147. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foodres.2019.02.018
14. Le Mare, A. (2008). The impact of fair trade on social and economic development: A review of the literature. Geography Compass, 2(6), 1922-1942. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1749-8198.2008.00171.x
15. Pelsmacker, P. D., DRIESEN, L., & Rayp, G. (2005). Do consumers care about ethics? willingness to pay for fair‐trade coffee. Journal of Consumer Affairs, 39(2), 363-385. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1745-6606.2005.00019.x
16. Pringle, A. (2015). Fashioning sustainability: drawing lessons from the fair trade coffee industry. Toronto Metropolitan University. https://doi.org/10.32920/ryerson.14668401.v1
17. Shawki, N., & Schnyder, M. (2023). Understanding polycentrically organized movements: An analysis of the Slow Food and Fair Trade movements in Europe. Journal of Civil Society, 19(2), 156–174. https://doi.org/10.1080/17448689.2023.2206153
18. Sharma, D., Kumar, A., Totuka, A., Yadav, A. K. S., & Jain, M. (2024). Integrity in agricultural supply chains through fair trade and ethical sourcing. Journal of Informatics Education and Research. Vol. 4 No. (2) https://doi.org/10.52783/jier.v4i2.845
19. Sianturi, U., Wibowo, R., Chalil, D., Ginting, K., Pebriyani, D., & Damanik, S. (2023). Fairtrade on coffee farming in takengon district, central aceh regency. Iop Conference Series Earth and Environmental Science, 1241(1), 012053. https://doi.org/10.1088/1755-1315/1241/1/012053
20. Sitnikov, C., Staneci, I., Ilie, S. M., & Belu, A. M. (2021). Responsible consumption from a fair-trade perspective. In R. Pamfilie, V. Dinu, L. Tăchiciu, D. Pleșea, & C. Vasiliu (Eds.), 7th BASIQ International Conference on New Trends in Sustainable Business and Consumption (pp. 535-541). ASE. https://doi.org/10.24818/BASIQ/2021/07/068
21. Toušek, R., & Šalamoun. (2023). Possibilities of applying ABC analysis in terms of increasing the share of Fairtrade-certified products on the food market. In 17th International Scientific Conference INPROFORUM Challenges and Opportunities in the Digital World, November 2 - 3, 2023, České Budějovice (pp. 164-178). DOI: 10.32725/978-80-7694-053-6.25
22. von Grafenstein, L., Iweala, S., & Ruml, A. (2022). Information source and content – Drivers for consumers' valuation of fairly traded chocolate. Cleaner and Responsible Consumption, 6, 1–16. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.clrc.2022.100071
23. Yassıbaş, E. and Bölükbaşı, H. (2023). Evaluation of adherence to the mediterranean diet with sustainable nutrition knowledge and environmentally responsible food choices. Frontiers in Nutrition, 10. https://doi.org/10.3389/fnut.2023.1158155