Evaluating multidimensional barriers to green certification adoption in the textile industry: a TOE-based Delphi-AHP-FAHP framework

Global sustainability regulations (e.g., EU’s Sustainable and Circular Textiles Strategy 2023) and green certifications (GOTS, OEKO-TEX) are vital for Chinese textile enterprises’ market access. However, adoption is uneven—especially among SMEs—due to unresolved multi-dimensional barriers. Existing research overemphasizes technical feasibility or generic supply chains, ignoring textile-specific traits (industrial clustering, cross-border standard alignment, trade secret sensitivity) and lacking quantification of non-technical barriers (trust deficits, compliance complexity). This gap harms China’s textile sector (50%+ global fiber processing), which faces dual pressures from domestic dual-carbon goals and EU CBAM. An integrated Delphi–AHP–FAHP framework was used. 15 core barriers were refined from 32 via 3 Delphi rounds with 21 interdisciplinary experts. AHP quantified weights of 4 criterion layers (Technology, Compliance, Cost, Trust) and 15 sub-barriers. FAHP addressed expert judgment fuzziness, with CR < 0.1 and ± 30% weight perturbation verifying robustness. Barriers are non-technology-dominated: Trust and Acceptance (0.3635) and Compliance (0.2807) account for > 64% of weight. Core sub-barriers: lack of trust (0.1274), insufficient incentives (0.1131), international standard complexity (0.1095) (stable in sensitivity tests). FAHP scores show standard complexity (4.5714) is most severe; technical barriers score lower (3.0952–3.8104). Contributions: (1) Expands TOE to textile clusters, verifying non-technical barriers’ dominance; (2) Validates Delphi–AHP–FAHP for industry-specific assessment; (3) Proposes solutions (hierarchical alliance chains, PPP cost-sharing) to guide policies and align with UN SDG 12.