Antecedents and outcomes of global sourcing and information technology in the US apparel supply chain

While global sourcing and information technology (IT) are critical in the performance of apparel companies, few studies have examined which firm-related factors are related to the level of global sourcing and IT and how these two practices contribute to firm performance. This study proposed a model integrating three firm antecedents (firms global awareness, top management commitment to global sourcing, and firm size) and outcomes of global sourcing and IT implementation (operational, strategic, and financial performance) and empirically tested it with the data collected from 111 US apparel manufacturers. This study found that the greater the firms global awareness and the greater the firm size, the higher the global sourcing involvement. Also, the greater the top management commitment to global sourcing and the greater the firm size, the higher the IT implementation. While global sourcing involvement increased all three levels of firm performance, IT implementation led only to higher operational performance.