Abstract

Purpose: This article examines the interplay between organizational change and reinstitutionalization, production, and profitability within the Colombian coffee industry. Design: We used a system dynamics approach to understand complex phenomena by identifying circular causality relationships. Findings: We found that the change in organizational fields and reinstitutionalization tend to increase production and profitability when both peripheral and central changes increase. Social Implications: The growing praxis from the start of specialty coffee programs and the renewal of coffee plantations initiated in 1997 is helping strengthen change and improve profitability within the coffee sector in Colombia, even in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. However, production has decreased, especially after the end of the International Coffee Agreement (ICA). This scenario might affect the instability of the coffee industry in the future. Originality: The literature about the change in organizational fields has mainly focused on observing institutional entrepreneurs from the center of organizational fields. Therefore, this research seeks to examine the effect of the interplay between organizational change, reinstitutionalization, production, and profitability from a dynamic perspective, including peripheral actors in the Colombian coffee sector such as coffee growers, independent entrepreneurs, leaders in social movements, and new coffee associations.