Impact of country governance on international trade performance: An apparel industry case study: British Academy of Management Conference 2017

Industrial growth and international trade are facilitated by good governance, as this paper demonstrates by empirically analysing the impact of country governance on the apparel industry performance. This paper contributes to the neo-institutional theory by adding cases based on emerging markets. The trade gravity model is employed to quantitatively analyse the impact of governance on the apparel industry performance. Drawing on the findings, this paper concludes that good governance facilitates performance of apparel trade at macro-level. However, the study also finds evidence of state capture and elite influence when good governance is achieved through non-democratic means. At empirical level the paper establishes the worldwide governance indicator (WGI) as applicable measure of the perception of governance when applied as explanatory variables. The paper also informs the trade policy bodies on sustainable performance initiatives.