Technology adoption in the apparel industry: insight from literature review and research directions

Purpose This paper aims to identify key theoretical cornerstones and research trends in the apparel industry. It also compares theoretical bases with those of the general research domain in technology adoption literature and, thus, provides future policy guidelines for practitioners and research gaps for further studies. Design/methodology/approach Documents were collected from the Web of Science (core collection) database using systematic methods. The bibliometric coupling and co-citation analyses were conducted using VOSviewer software to construct theoretical cornerstones and research trends in the apparel industry. Findings Literature in the apparel industry focuses mainly on the diffusion of innovation and the theory of reasoned action. Hence, the literature lacks investigations of technology-organization-environment and institutional theories for technology adoption in the apparel industry. This study also traces six clusters of prevalent research trends: radiofrequency identification, virtual-try on technology for e-commerce, computer-aided design, Industry 4.0 technologies, virtual-try on technology in design and information technology. Originality/value Little research is done on theoretical cornerstones on technology adoption in the apparel industry. This study looks into the theoretical bases for technology adoption, research trends in the apparel supply chain and calls for future research necessities.