Sense of belonging and commitment to a community-supported fishery. The case of Yeu Island, France

Community-supported agriculture/fisheries (CSA/CSF) create both market and nonmarket values, including environmental and social benefits. When shared by a community of users, these values generate identity and sense of belonging for the members who are prone to accept conditions they would not bear in conventional markets (e.g., higher prices, inconvenient delivery time and location, lack of choice, and supply risk). We argue that longevity of CSA/CSF depends on their capacity to create such a sense of belonging. For this reason and because of some CSF peculiarities compared to CSA, analyzing the sense of belonging to a CSF becomes an interesting challenge to understand the nature and extent of the community and its underlying social characteristics and motives. A qualitative-quantitative mixed methodology was used. Data come from an original online survey of 556 French seafood consumers belonging to the Yeu Island CSF, and from individual, semi-directive interviews. An ordered probit model with endogenous treatment effects for commitment experience was developed, and the evidence of results was related with a content analysis from qualitative materials. The sense of belonging to CSF is positively influenced by the relational dimension and negatively by the demand for high-quality goods, but not by the credence attributes (support of fishers and the local economy, origin of products, environmental outcomes…). Moreover, commitment as volunteer member tends to have a positive influence on belongingness. Interviews with members highlight the social and cultural entanglement of their relationship. They show notably the importance of the sociability built around fish – leading to an increase of knowledge around species, ways of cooking, and to the strengthening of a food identity – on the sense of belonging. The long-term sustainability of CSF may highly depend on these relational dimensions, acting as cohesive factors in the community.