Unravelling traceability and transparency for sustainable apparel-fashion supply chainsA mixed-methods approach

Resumen

Supply chain (SC) traceability and transparency are considered key antecedents to corporate and SC sustainability (Khurana & Ricchetti, 2016; Pagell & Wu, 2009). However, they remain a utopia in complex global SCs hindered by both conceptual and practical barriers. This research aims to understand and help the deployment of the three phenomena (sustainability, traceability and transparency) in the particular context of the fashion-apparel industry, where their advancement is especially necessary due to the high environmental and social risks associated with their activities, and to the complex, labour-intensive, and geographically dispersed character of their SCs. To this end, the present doctoral project blends qualitative and quantitative methods and combines insights from academia and the fashion-apparel industry in three sequential studies. It begins with an integrative literature review that resulted in a conceptual framework depicting the phenomena under analysis (traceability and transparency for SC sustainability). Next, building on this framework, a Delphi study was conducted with experts representing key stakeholders in fashion-apparel SCs resulting in down-to-earth definitions of the three phenomena and a prospective model linking them. In addition, it provided insights about their drivers (including actors) and barriers. Finally, this model is tested using the partial least squares structural equation modeling technique on data collected through surveys from a sample of fashion-apparel suppliers located in Portugal or Spain. As a result, definitions that set clear boundaries for sustainability, traceability, and transparency in the fashion-apparel context are formulated, and a theory is proposed to explain the interrelations between traceability and transparency and with collaboration−unveiled as the key enabler−for SC sustainability. In doing so, this study contributes to the corporate social responsibility and (sustainable) supply chain management literature with a managerial theorization of traceability and transparency for sustainability and with practical insights about how to advance them in fashion-apparel SCs. Furthermore, the unique contribution of this study lies in its focus on how to deploy traceability and transparency for sustainability with an emphasis on the suppliers’ point of view, rather than on the retailer’s.