Strategic Digital Resources for Fashion Rental Business Transformation: an Integrated Soft Systems and Dynamic Capabilities Framework
Year: 2026
Type: article
Abstract: Research on fashion rental has mainly focused on consumer adoption, leaving limited understanding of how enterprises coordinate digital resources to address interconnected operational problems. This study developed a stakeholder-informed transformation framework integrating the Resource-Based View, Dynamic Capability Theory, and Soft Systems Methodology (SSM). A qualitative interpretive single-case study was conducted in Lampung, Indonesia, with 25 purposively selected informants. Interviews, observations, document review, and three focus group discussions informed seven-stage SSM analysis, CATWOE assessment, VRIN appraisal, and conceptual model development. Two academic experts, a practitioner, and stakeholders provided descriptive evaluations. The study identified five recurring problems: fragmented inventory, inefficient reservations, weak customer relationship management, limited data-driven decision-making, and inadequate digital marketing integration. Eight strategic digital resource components informed a five-layer Strategic Digital Resource-Based Fashion Rental System (SDR-FRS) model connecting digital inputs, capability development, organizational capabilities, dynamic capabilities, and competitive advantage objectives. Evaluators reported favorable perceived relevance and usefulness, but more moderate implementation ease. The novel contribution is a firm-level resource-to-capability architecture derived from stakeholder-defined operational problems rather than consumer adoption constructs. The proposed 18-month implementation roadmap prioritizes shared inventory and customer information before advanced integration. Because the evaluation was perception-based and limited to one enterprise, future longitudinal implementation studies are needed to establish operational and competitive effects.
Institutions: Lampung University, Universitas Bandar Lampung
Language: English
Subfield: Strategy and Management
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: diamond
OpenAlex ID: W7225329959