DETERMINATION OF TRUST AND ITS IMPLICATIONS FOR CUSTOMERLOYALTY AT AGUNG TOYOTA PEKANBARU

Abstract

This study investigates customer loyalty in the automotive after-sales service sector by
introducing online booking service quality as a novel construct alongside service quality and
price, with customer trust as a mediating variable. Unlike prior studies that focus primarily on
traditional service delivery, this research captures the digital transformation of customer
interactions in the Industry 4.0 era. Using a quantitative approach with Structural Equation
Modeling–Partial Least Squares (SEM-PLS), data were collected from 250 repeat customers at
Agung Toyota Pekanbaru through stratified cluster random sampling. Results indicate that
service quality and online booking services significantly influence both trust and loyalty, while
price affects loyalty but not trust. Trust mediates the relationship between service quality and
loyalty but unexpectedly weakens the link between online booking services and loyalty when
trust levels are low. These findings contribute to service marketing theory by revealing the
conditional role of trust in digital service contexts and highlight the need for integrated offline–
online strategies to enhance loyalty in automotive after-sales services.