Relationship of supply chain capabilities and supply chain technology adoption towards supply chain operational performance in textile and apparel industry

In today’s dynamic business environment, competition is no longer between firms, but between supply chains. The supply chain dependency leads the business focused on supply chain performance. Considering the importance given to the third industrial master plan by the Malaysia government, current supply chain environment accentuated the need of supply chain technology adoption to facilitate supply chain management. To explain the concerns, this study examined the impact of supply chain capabilities namely, relational capability, information technology capability, and organizational culture capability on supply chain operational performance and supply chain technology adoption. This study also examines the successive impact of supply chain technology adoption on supply chain operational performance and investigates whether supply chain technology adoption mediates supply chain capabilities and performance relationship under study. In order to achieve the research objectives, a two-step approach namely quantitative research method and a triangulation research approach are necessitated. 201 survey questionnaires were distributed to respondents in Malaysian textile and apparel organizations. 121 usable responses representing 60% response rate were empirically tested through structural equation modeling by using SPSS and SmartPLS. Research findings revealed that relational capability, organizational culture capability, and supply chain technology adoption contributed to firm’s supply chain operational performance, whereas, information technology capability was insignificant. The findings further revealed that supply chain capabilities have a positive influence to supply chain technology adoption. The findings also revealed a significant mediation effect of supply chain technology adoption in the model under study. A triangulation research approach was employed through face-to-face interviews with four industry practitioners to get their in-depth experiences and perceptions on the model under study. ATLAS.ti results showed that developed model had achieved agreement of industry experts with the suggestion of two emerging terms (human support and work experience) as moderators for future study on the model. Limitations and recommendations for future study are discussed