The Relationship between Word-of-Mouth, Satisfaction, Trust and Loyalty in Herbal Medicine Industry

Favourable word-of-mouth, customer satisfaction and trust are essential elements for strengthening customer brand loyalty to gain a sustainable advantage in a competitive market. However, there is a relative scarcity of research on the impact of word-of-mouth and customer satisfaction on brand loyalty through the mediated role of brand trust in the herbal medicine market. Consequently, this research aimed to assess the impact of word-of-mouth and customer satisfaction on loyalty through the mediating role of trust in the herbal medicine market. A survey questionnaire was utilised to obtain empirical data from a sample of 265 customers through systematic sampling strategy. Covariance-based structural equation modelling was employed to examine the hypotheses formulated to achieve the aim of the study. The research established that positive word-of-mouth, satisfaction, and trust significantly impact loyalty in the herbal medicine market. More importantly, the research indicated that the customers` trust partially mediated the impact of word-of-mouth and customer satisfaction on loyalty in the herbal medicine market. Hence, this research contributes to advancing the extant brand management literature by establishing the intervening role of trust in the relationship between word-of-mouth, satisfaction and loyalty in the herbal medicine market. This research further provides a reference point to encourage the practitioners to develop and track the customers` word-of-mouth, satisfaction and brand trust to enhance loyalty in the industry.