A content analysis to understand the cross-functional nature of the merchandising constituency in the behavioural theory of the apparel firm

ABSTRACT

This study aims to investigate an apparel firm’s job positions within the merchandising constituency, discover the organisation of teams within the merchandising constituency, and understand the cross-functional nature of the teams. A direct approach content analysis was conducted on the case study Gap Inc. to collect and analyse 476 job postings on their career website from February to August 2021. The findings illustrated how Gap Inc. organises its internal constituencies and merchandising constituency within a brand, division, job category, and department detailing job responsibilities and cross-functional partners. Further, the findings uncover product category teams that are the core of the merchandising constituency and are structured cross-functionally. This study contributes to the knowledge of the apparel firm, specifically the identification of the cross-functional product category teams.

KEYWORDS:

• Cross-functional teams
• behavioural theory of the apparel firm
• apparel jobs
• merchandising constituency
• apparel merchandising competency framework

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).