Great expectations: intersecting markets, conflicting temporalities and the difficulty of shaping markets

There is growing interest in how actors can shape markets. Focus has mainly been on how individual firms try to shape markets, while less attention has been devoted to exploring how actors work together to shape markets and why it is sometimes difficult to change existing markets. Based on a study of efforts to shape markets for Danish welfare pork we find that different actors are involved in different markets ruled by conflicting temporalities and time binds, making it difficult to coordinate activities and shape markets where animal welfare is a more important matter of concern. Our findings have implications for research as well as practitioners and policy makers who want to shape markets in the green transition to more sustainable production and consumption practices.