Vol.:(0123456789) Environment, Development and Sustainability https://doi.org/10.1007/s10668-022-02306-6 1 3 Global and local sustainable certifcation systems: Factors infuencing RSPO and Thai‑GAP adoption by oil palm smallholder farmers in Thailand Somjai Nupueng 1,2,3  · Peter Oosterveer 1  · Arthur P. J. Mol 1 Received: 24 March 2020 / Accepted: 23 March 2022 © The Author(s) 2022 Abstract This paper investigates the factors that infuence the adoption of RSPO and Thai-GAP cer- tifcation by oil palm smallholder farmers in Thailand. A random sample of 77 RSPO cer- tifed, 108 non-certifed RSPO, 87 Thai-GAP certifed, and 67 non-certifed Thai-GAP smallholder farmers were interviewed to investigate the factors explaining the RSPO and Thai- GAP scheme adoption, respectively. The logit model was used to analyse the relationships between the adoption and the decision-making factors of the farmers. The results show that membership of farmer groups, the goal of the scheme, and trust in the scheme are the most sig- nifcant factors afecting the adoption of RSPO certifcation. Scheme payments have a negative infuence on adoption. In case of Thai-GAP, the results show the scheme payment, the image, concerns about the quality of land and water, and trust in the scheme are the most signifcant factors afecting the adoption. Finally, these fndings suggest new factors may be attributed to several issues, including trust in the scheme, membership of farmer groups, the scheme’s goal, and trust in the scheme are the most signifcant. Designing and extension in infuenc- ing factors may play multiple roles in driving smallholder farmers to adopt sustainable certif- cation schemes. This fnding repeats that the usability of sustainable certifcation schemes in developing countries needs to be mobilised around a particular socio-cultural context. Includ- ing, understanding the factors afecting smallholder farmers’ intention to adopt Thai-GAP or RSPO certifcation is very important to plan and promote these schemes among other farmers and transform the current cultivation practices into more sustainable palm oil production. * Somjai Nupueng somjai.nupueng@gmail.com Peter Oosterveer peter.oosterveer@wur.nl Arthur P. J. Mol arthur.mol@wur.nl 1 Environmental Policy Group, Wageningen University & Research, PO Box 8130, 6700EW Wageningen, The Netherlands 2 School of Management, Walailak University, Nakhon Si Thammarat, Thailand 3 Center of Excellence in Logistics and Business Analytics, Walailak University, Nakhon Si Thammarat, Thailand