Title: The role of relationship quality mediation in traditional retail shop loyalty in the digital transformation era

Authors: Mujianto Mujianto; Muhammad Ramaditya; Hartoyo Hartoyo; Rita Nurmalina; Eva Z. Yusuf

Addresses: School of Business, IPB University, Bogor, Indonesia ' Faculty of Administrative Science, Universitas Indonesia, West Java, Indonesia ' School of Business, IPB University, Bogor, Indonesia ' Department of Agribusiness, Faculty of Economic and Management, IPB University, Bogor, Indonesia ' School of Business, IPB University, Bogor, Indonesia

Abstract: Traditional retail shop businesses in the new digital transformation era need long-term relationships with suppliers so that retail shops become loyal to suppliers. This study aims to analyse the factors of trust, commitment, and satisfaction in the relationship between retail shops and suppliers using structural equation modelling and also knowing the mediating role of trust, commitment, and satisfaction in B2B supplier relationships with traditional retail stalls with the Sobel test. There are 500 retail shop business owners participating as respondents. The study's found that the mediating role of trust, commitment, and satisfaction is enormous in the loyalty of traditional retail shops. In addition, the results of this study are unique because the relationship between suppliers and retail shops is a special B2B relationship. After all, satisfaction is a determining variable in the loyalty of retail shops to suppliers, while in other B2B relationships, trust and commitment factors determine loyalty.

Keywords: trust; commitment; satisfaction; loyalty; FMCG retail industry; structural equation modelling; SEM.

DOI: 10.1504/IJEMR.2025.148661

International Journal of Electronic Marketing and Retailing, 2025 Vol.16 No.5, pp.573 - 595

Received: 16 Jan 2023
Accepted: 28 Feb 2023
Published online: 18 Sep 2025 *

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