Global partnerships for a textile transformation? A systematic literature review on inter- and transnational collaborative governance of the textile and clothing industry

Abstract

Since the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, partnerships between actors from different sectors and countries have been joining forces to tackle major sustainability challenges. Within the textile and clothing industry, inter-organizational networks and governance partnerships have worked to address labor rights violations and environmentally harmful modes of production. Although research on these networks and partnerships has been increasing, it has remained heterogeneous. It derives from many different disciplines and research communities, leaving behind an opaque field of literature. This article provides a critical overview and a comprehensive understanding of research on inter-organizational networks and governance partnerships of the textile and clothing industry through a systematic literature review. It analyzes 301 academic peer-reviewed articles published between 1992 and 2018. It uses quantitative full-text bibliometric word analysis, followed by coding around the meta-framework of modes of governance, which provides an integrative framework for this field of study. Firstly, this analysis revealed four discourses referred to as Economic and Industrial Development, Ecology and Environment, Private Labor Governance and Workers’ Rights, and Critical Ethnographies. Secondly, these four discourses were found to differ in their thematic sustainability challenges as well as in their variety of governance modes and partnerships. Research on economic sustainability tends to focus on modes of central and public-private governance; research on environmental challenges focus more on private governance of supply networks and; research on social sustainability tends to focus on more participatory, interactive and self-governing modes between multiple actors. The analysis provides a unique classification of scientific articles through modes of governance, which is helpful in positioning research in the debate, analyzing and comparing approaches and thus highlighting current gaps and opportunities for future research. The results indicate that both inter- and transdisciplinary collaboration is needed to address the identified dialectical and practical challenges, including increased involvement of research as a key actor in knowledge creation for governance and sustainability transformation within the textile and clothing industry.