Perceptual Differences of the Multidimensional Value of a Relationship with Agribusiness in South Mozambique: A Multi-group Confirmatory Factor Analysis

Abstract

In developing countries, the integration of family farmers and wage earners (WEs) into petty commodity producers (PCPs) in global value chains linked to international agribusiness is evident. These forms of production were driven by colonial governments and were associated with the plantation sector. Currently, these forms of integration are encouraged by the state, development agencies, and agribusiness. This study investigated the invariance in the perceived value (PV) between WEs and PCPs about their relationship with Xinavane Sugarcane (ADX), a foreign multinational capital agribusiness in Maputo Province, Mozambique. The reduced 12-item PERVAL scale related to four first order latent constructs of PV underlying the concept was explored: functional value (FV), emotional value (EV), social value (SV), and monetary value (MV). The perceptual differences between the groups were assessed using multi-group confirmatory factor analysis (MCFA). The results indicated no statistically significant differences regarding the groups’ perceptions of MV, while the remaining perceptual differences can be partly explained by the PCPs’ characteristics. Future research should compare both groups’ PV, according to the modalities of integration, functions and the type of partnership agreement established with ADX. The study highlighted cognitive-economic judgment as a crucial factor in relational value creation in the agricultural context, and the dependence of the affective and social aspects on cognitive-utilitarian aspects of the relationship. The study also served to gauge the benefits and sacrifices perceived by the PCPs’ and WEs’ decision whether or not to continue their relationship with ADX. The PV was applied in the context of a relationship in the provision of agricultural services. The study captured the PV from a multidimensional perspective which encompassed cognitive-utilitarian and hedonic aspects in emotional terms as well as social consequences derived from the relationship, in a comparative approach of groups with distinct characteristics evaluated simultaneously.