An empirical study on supply chain agility and disruption mitigation performance of U.S. fashion retailers: knowledge management capability perspective

Purpose This study investigates the relationships between knowledge management capabilities (KMC), supply chain agility (SCA) and disruption mitigation performance (DMP) in the U.S. fashion retail industry (FRI) during turbulent times, such as a pandemic. Design/methodology/approach An online survey was used to collect 320 responses from U.S. fashion retail professionals. Structural equation modeling was used for analysis. Findings Among the two KMCs, knowledge infrastructure capabilities act as enabling factors for knowledge process capabilities (KPC) in U.S. fashion retail settings. The KPC were found to be positively associated with SCA, and SCA was positively associated with both pre- and post-DMP of U.S. fashion retailers. Originality/value This study adds to the literature on KMC, SCA and DMP from the FRI context and illustrates the impact of effective organizational knowledge management for supply chain (SC) disruption mitigation through agility in a volatile market. Practical implications The results inform fashion retail companies on how to transform their organizational dimensions through effective management of knowledge, i.e. digital escalation and innovation, to establish an agile and sustainable SC to mitigate future market disruptions.