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al. (2016) which was similar to that investigated in this study. Thus, the following research hypothesis
is put forth:
H1: There is a positive and direct significant relationship between brand credibility and trust in the
mobile service provider industry in Malaysia.

Trust growth is considered to be a crucial outcome of the establishment of a stable long-term
relationship between all parties involved. Customers tend to act and make buying decisions based on
their previous consuming experiences, especially in the complicated services industry. For example,
the research was done by Kabadayi (2016) in the banking sector, contended that the greater the
customers’ trust will stimulate the greater the possibility of them staying with their banks for future
banking transactions. Similarly, Cho and Hu (2009) explained that trust increases the capability of a
customer to return and increases the chances to recommend to other customers. It suggested that a
high level of confidence could turn a satisfied customer into a loyal customer (Tabrani et al., 2018).
This indicates that customers establish relationships with firms because they believe that the firm is
trustworthy. In this study, trust will be expected to have a direct impact on customer loyalty. A
hypothesis regarding the relationship between trust and customer loyalty is formulated as follow:

H2: There is a positive and direct significant relationship between trust and customer loyalty in the
mobile service provider industry in Malaysia.

Conclusion
Credibility is a fundamental asset for all sorts of settings including people, organizations, products, or
services. Many researchers have analyzed and revealed that most of the findings were more cognitive,
rational component, more effective, and has emotional component (Maathuis et al., 2004) towards
firms in performing and generate confidence (Kiatkawsin & Sutherland, 2020). Credibility must be
created by firms by deploy trustworthiness, attractiveness, and expertise to surpass the perception of
credibility in the eyes of the customer (Erdem & Swait, 2004; Kiatkawsin & Sutherland, 2020;
Maathuis et al., 2004). The level of perception will yield a correlation coefficient of trust. Product or
services that meet the perception will reflect positive signals, and motivate the customer to repurchase
decisions (Alam et al., 2012). At the same time, trust helps form a positive reputation. According to
Sunil Atulkar (2020), emotional attachment makes customers take repurchase decisions and present
their trust and loyalty towards a brand.

From the discussion above, this particular paper will answer the research question of whether trust
mediates the relationship between brand credibility on customer loyalty. The commitment-trust theory
may help this research model to determine how trust mediates the relationship between brand
credibility on customer loyalty. Based on the findings, this research will be able to solve the problem
of customer complaints that may affect the customer perception of brand credibility.

Acknowledgement
The authors would like to acknowledge their appreciation for participating in the FBM Rembau e-National
Conference 2021 (FReN-C2021).

References
Abdullah, M. F., Putit, L., & Teo, C. B. C. (2014). Impact of Relationship Marketing Tactics (RMT’s) &
Relationship Quality on Customer Loyalty: A Study within the Malaysian Mobile Telecommunication Industry.
Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences, 130(2011), 371–378. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sbspro.2014.04.044.

Agag, G. (2019). E-commerce Ethics and Its Impact on Buyer Repurchase Intentions and Loyalty: An Empirical
Study of Small and Medium Egyptian Businesses. Journal of Business Ethics, 154(2), 389–410.
https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-017-3452-3.

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