Digital traceability systems in multi-tier supply networks: an information integration perspective from the fashion industry

Abstract

This study investigates how digital traceability systems operate as inter-organisational information systems (IOS) enabling information integration, visibility, and coordination across multi-tier fashion supply networks. Focusing on how firms build digital traceability infrastructures in anticipation of forthcoming regulatory requirements, the study examines the strategic, institutional, and operational drivers, socio-technical mechanisms, and traceability configurations that shape data integration and governance across organisational tiers. The study adopts an in-depth qualitative case study of an Italian luxury fashion supply network involving actors from raw material sourcing to final product distribution. Data were collected between September 2025 and January 2026 through semi-structured interviews, plant visits, and archival documentation. Data analysis followed an iterative Gioia-inspired coding process combining within-case and cross-tier analysis to examine how traceability systems are designed, integrated, and coordinated across organisational boundaries. The findings show that traceability adoption is driven by sustainability pressures, quality management requirements, brand protection concerns, and coordination needs. From an information systems perspective, effective traceability depends on the interaction between data standardisation, information and communication technology (ICT) integration, digital platform architectures, and relational governance mechanisms that collectively enable distributed data generation, validation, and exchange across supply network actors. The study further introduces the concept of traceability depth, defined as the degree of informational granularity and cross-tier visibility embedded within traceability architectures. It demonstrates that firms balance batch-level and item-level traceability configurations to manage trade-offs between information visibility, operational complexity, and coordination requirements across supply chain tiers. This study contributes to the literature on inter-organisational information systems and supply network digitalisation by conceptualising traceability as a distributed socio-technical information infrastructure rather than merely a compliance-oriented tracking mechanism. It extends existing traceability research beyond regulated contexts by explaining how digital platforms, governance practices, and information architectures enable multi-tier information integration and coordination across complex supply networks. It also introduces traceability depth as an information systems design dimension capturing variations in informational granularity and visibility across organisational tiers.