ABSTRACT This study examines why fashion manufacturers intend to adopt blockchain‐enabled supply chains and assesses the moderating role of sustainable supplier development. Building on the Technology–Organization–Environment framework, diffusion of innovation, behavioral reasoning theory, and social capital theory, we test an integrated model using survey data from footwear and apparel manufacturers in Quanzhou, China, analyzed with variance‐based PLS‐SEM. Relative advantage, compatibility, technological trust, top management support, absorptive capacity, social capital, and market partner influence are positively associated with implementation intention, whereas policy and regulatory support is not significant. The moderation results highlight a governance‐based pattern. Sustainable supplier development weakens the effects of relative advantage and compatibility, reduces the marginal role of market partner influence, and strengthens the effect of top management support, while leaving the role of social capital largely unchanged. These findings suggest that directive supplier development can shift adoption toward compliance, reducing reliance on internal technology evaluations and peer persuasion, but enabling leadership support to translate into coordinated implementation. This study advances adoption research by integrating governance into intention formation and offers guidance on calibrating supplier development stringency and support intensity to achieve verifiable sustainability and supply chain finance objectives while preserving supplier autonomy and learning.
Li et al. (2026) studied this question.