Some purchasing officials decided to form a national group to advance their profession and share useful information among members, but support was spotty.

As Charles A. Steele, president of NAPA stated in 1923: Elwood B. Hendricks, a salesman working for the Thomas Publishing Company, became the driving force behind forming a national purchasing association.

In 1913, Hendricks's plan began to bear fruit when he helped form the Purchasing Agents Association of New York that became the nucleus of the national organization.

Materials were in short supply and procurement had become more complicated as the U.S. government "attempted to guide economic activity via centralized price and production controls".

Its crusade for ethical standards resulted in the Purchasing Agent’s Creed that observers hailed for decades as one of the outstanding moral statements in modern business.

In 1931, the association established the J. Shipman Gold Medal Award, the highest honor in the field, bestowed on an individual for exceptional performance in supply management.

When World War II broke out, NAPA kept its members updated on government requirements and regulations concerning wartime production.

In 1989, the U.S. Department of Commerce began including NAPM's data as a component of its Index of Leading Indicators and the Chairman of the Federal Reserve praised the Report.

To more accurately reflect this expanded scope, NAPM members voted in April 2001 to change the organization's name to Institute for Supply Management (ISM).

In 2023, ISM introduced the Associate Professional in Supply Management (APSM) certification to create a pathway for students to achieve the CPSM earlier in their careers.

The Report is based on two national surveys of supply chain professionals tracking changes in the manufacturing, non-manufacturing sectors and hospital subsectors.

[14] In 2013, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) investigated the early release of the June 2013 Manufacturing ISM Report On Business by mass media and information firm Thomson Reuters.

In an interview with CNBC, ISM CEO Thomas Derry said that after speaking with Thomson Reuters about the mechanics of their release process, he was confident it was an isolated occurrence.

The initial figure of 53.2 was lower than anticipated and indicated a slowing of the pace of factory-sector growth, and this caused stocks to dip immediately.

[16] ISM's final correction of 55.4 was almost in line with Wall Street expectations, indicating brisk growth, and the stock market rebounded quickly and closed the day with a modest gain.

[17] In a statement, ISM attributed the errant report to a software glitch that "incorrectly used the seasonal adjustment factor from the previous month."