“How to build trust: Evidence from Thai customers in the latex glove industry”

This paper examined the impact of product quality, perceived risk, and perceived value on customer trust in the latex glove industry of Thailand. It used a structural equation model (SEM) to analyze the association between two or more variables. Data collection was conducted in Thailand during the pandemic of COVID-19. Five hundred people looking for glove protection were invited to join the survey;however, only 384 provided responses were valid enough for the data analysis. According to the empirical results of this study, product quality demonstrated significant and positive impacts on perceived value and trust. In addition, perceived value acted not only as a significant and positive predictor of customer trust but also as a partial mediator between product quality and customer trust. On the other hand, the current results demonstrated that perceived risk had little impact on perceived value and trust, while product quality was the primary benefit for increasing perceived value and trust among customers. Thus, ambiguity among customers was unlikely to demonstrate any serious concern for customer value and trust. Overall, customer trust relied significantly on perceived value through increased product quality. © 2021 LLC CPC Business Perspectives. All rights reserved.


INTRODUCTION
Customer trust is considered a key to business sustainability (Azahari & Nayan, 2020). Mayer et al. (1995) explain that high trust in a product can allow customers to have a strong willingness to purchase that product from a company. Thus, Chinomona et al. (2013) recommend building more product trust among customers if firms want to achieve high sales performance in the future.
According to Badnjević et al. (2020), many medical products are quite popular among the public since COVID-19 is announced by the WHO as a worldwide pandemic. In addition, Yip and Cacioli (2002) report that latex gloves, which are one of the medical products, can prevent bacteria and viruses' transmissions. Therefore, Eons Gloves (2021) has revealed that glove production in Thailand has been increased up to 90% for the current market needs. Although many people may highly demand the gloves for their protection, customer trust in this kind of product remains unidentified. Thus, a proper investigation of customer trust in the latex glove industry is very important.
Since customer trust is a key advantage to achieve high sales performance, some suggestions are proposed. For instance, Konuk (2021) argues that people feel confident to buy a product when products are considered to have high quality. In contrast, Van et al. (2020) suggest lowering perceived risk among customers so that high trust can be gained. Unlike the above arguments, Yusiana and Widodo (2020) argue that perceived value is the main predictor of customer trust since gaining high product value among the public can lead to high confidence in product possession.
Although previous studies have identified these variables, which individually influence customer trust in different contexts, the systematic impacts of these factors on customer trust have received less attention. The findings of this study possibly help production managers in the latex glove industry to comprehend how product quality, perceived value, and perceived risk are employed to determine customer trust in the glove business and their consequences for managerial strategies to accommodate customer expectations. Geyskens et al. (1998) define customer trust as an individual's willingness to establish a future transaction relationship with a firm, so that future risk perception can be minimized. Mosavi et al. (2018), however, define trust as a set of customer beliefs that are related to integrity, benevolence, and the ability of another party, so that the relationship can be fulfilled. First, integrity refers to a belief that firms gain trust from customers after providing a good-faith agreement to customers. After that, ability refers to the competency of firms to work effectively on the services offered to customers. Finally, benevolence refers to the degree to which firms are believed to serve customers well. Customer trust is very important to business success; therefore, numerous studies have been undertaken.

Customer trust
For instance, Putu et al. (2021) tested service quality and employee ethics on customer trust by using SEM Lisrel and multi-group analysis in the banking industry. Lassoued and Hobbs (2015) tested the influence of credibility, competence, benevolence, and reputation on customer trust in the food industry using a structural equation model. Kurniawati and Yaakop (2021) tested the effect of layout, functionality, aesthetic appeal, and financial security on customer trust in the online shopping service industry using path analysis. Baki (2020) tested the influence of reputation, assurance, risk, ease of use, and security on customer trust in the hotel service industry using a two-stage analysis. Sutantio et al. (2020) tested the impact of satisfaction, preference, and adaptive selling on customer trust in the housing development service using generalized structure component analysis. Leung et al. (2020) test-ed the influence of generalized and restricted reciprocity on customer trust in the e-commerce platform service using the structural equation model. Munawar et al. (2021) tested the effect of congruity and delivery performance on customer trust in the logistics service using a structural equation model. Setiawan et al. (2020) tested the impact of service quality, price fairness, and customer satisfaction on customer trust in the airline industry using a structural equation model. Widyastuti et al. (2019) tested the influence of green marketing and corporate social responsibility on customer trust using a structural equation model.
Although many variables have been tested on customer trust in different service and product industries, the influence of proposed variables (perceived value, perceived risk, and product quality) on customer trust with a systematic model is not well tested in the current literature, especially in the latex glove product industry.

Product quality and perceived value
Akolaa et al. (2021) define product quality as the perspective of a level to which a product meets customer expectations. Regardless of service marketing, Snoj et al. (2004) highlight product quality as a perceived quality that refers to customer judgment about firms' overall excellence or superiority. Semuel and Chandra (2014) also explain that consumers normally assess the quality of a product based on extrinsic and intrinsic attributes (e.g., appearance, size, color, taste, and scent).
Product quality and perceived value appear to be inextricably linked (

Product quality and customer trust
Regardless of the conceptual distinctions between product quality and customer trust, Akolaa et al. (2021) indicate product quality as an assessment of current product experiences, whilst Mosavi et al. (2018) argue that customer trust appears to be associated with future product use among customers. However, Mohammed and Shahin (2020) explain that trust among individuals can persuade them to purchase or continue purchasing a product if the product quality exceeds their expectations. Jacoby (2002) also supports that this instance may illustrate how a change in the quality of a product or service can affect client trust. The suggestion-organism-response theory of Jacoby (2002) in service marketing suggests that an individual's judgment or decision is impacted by his or her appraisal. According to Konuk (2021), in the restaurant industry clients trust a restaurant when the food and beverage quality meets their expectations (tasty and healthful).
The current marketing literature also mentions the connection between perceived quality of product/ service and customer trust.  Previous studies mention perceived risk as an influencer on customer trust. For instance, Ilhamalimy and Ali (2021) identify perceived risk as the main factor in customer trust in the online shopping service. According to Concepcion and Orillano (2020), perceived risk remains a negative predictor of customer trust in the e-commerce service.

Perceived value and customer trust
According to Lam et al. (2004), perceived value is conceptualized as a customer's assessment of the comparison between sacrifice and benefits with a given product option from the sellers. Likewise, Dam (2020) also supports perceived value as the trade-off between product quality and price. According to the multi-dimensional approach of Bajs (2015)

AIMS AND HYPOTHESES
In light of this, the study attempts to fill the research gap in the contemporary literature by developing a research model to identify the antecedents that affect customer trust in the latex glove industry of Thailand.
Thus, this paper aims to investigate the systematic impacts of product quality, perceived risk, and perceived value on customer trust in the latex glove industry of Thailand. According to the above discussions in the marketing literature, the following hypotheses are proposed ( Figure 1): H1: High product quality increases perceived value.
H2: High product quality increases customer trust.
H3: High perceived risk reduces perceived value.
H4: High perceived risk reduces customer trust.
H5: High perceived value increases customer trust.

Sample size and data collection
To comply with the current objective of the study, the survey was conducted on people who were seeking gloves to wear. The study implemented the convenience sampling technique to collect data in Thailand. Therefore, 500 people with diverse backgrounds (gender, age, education, and geographical locations) were contacted through some popular social media such as Facebook, Discord community, and Instagram to join the online surveys.
When reaching a target respondent, he/she was asked for consent; the confidential policy protecting their personal information was also explained. When a respondent agreed to complete the survey, the survey procedures were explained and the google survey link was dropped to them. Finally, answers from 500 respondents were collected by the end of October 2021. In fact, the study only accepted the data of 384 respondents for data analysis, after completing the data validation process.

Measurement construct
The Furthermore, the respondents filled in the survey by using a 5-point Likert scale, which ranges from 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree). Babakus and Mangold (1992) explained that the current rating technique provided an acceptable time to finish a survey, which significantly lowered respondent frustration and stress. In addition, Garland (1991) also recommends using this technique because it provides a clear boundary between negative and positive answers by offering a mid-point (3 = neutral); thus, the respondents could answer precisely based on their individual degrees of feeling on the matter.

Structural equation model measurement
First, confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and goodness of fit indicators were used to test the validity of the measurement model (Table 1). Some model indices were examined: CMIN 2 /df measure, GFI CFI, NFI, AGFI, RMSEA, and PCLOSE. According to the threshold recommendation of Hu and Bentler (1999), all of the fit indicators in the model passed the thresholds after adjusting modification. Therefore, the measurement of the model in this study is at the acceptable level ( Table  1) because all of the indices passed the threshold.
The summary of the measurement model, variables, and items are reported in Table 2. First, the loading factor scores ranged from 0.79 to 0.91 and were acceptable, as they were all above 0.5. Next, each construct contained content reliability since all of the Cronbach's alpha scores were above 0.7 (Mosavi et al., 2018). The scores of composite reliability (CR) ranged from 0.874 to 0.925 and were acceptable since these scores were all above 0.7 (Ibrahim & Aljarah, 2018). Likewise, the scores of AVE ranged from 0.654 to 0.768 and were also acceptable as they were all above 0.5 (Fornell & Larcker, 1981). As a result, all of the values produced in the current analysis showed an acceptable indication of the convergent in the measurement model. Thus, the regressions in the structural equation model (SEM) were generated in Figure 2.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
The results were generated using the SEM. The strengths of both direct and indirect impacts are briefly provided in both Figure 2 and Table 3.

Discussions of the effects on perceived value
Product quality showed a positive association with perceived value (β = 0.88, p < 0.001), which supports H1. Strong product quality led to greater customer perceived value. Similarly, Konuk (2019) supported that the products seemed to be valuable among customers when they highly benefited customer daily consumption. A positive customer perspective on a firm's latex glove products was likely if the product quality reached a significant level of perceived benefits (preventing bacteria and virus transmissions).
On the other hand, perceived risk showed a non-significant impact on perceived value (β = In contrast, the current findings could be rationally explained based on the current impacts of product quality on perceived risk and perceived value. As high product quality could significantly lower a customer's degree of uncertainty, customers definitely acknowledge the value of products. Therefore, the value that was already perceived on the glove products may not have been affected by perceived risk since customers were likely to demonstrate their low uncertainty on products (Chen & Chang, 2005; Kim & Lennon, 2013).

Discussions of the effects on customer trust
First, perceived value showed a positive association with customer trust (β = 71, p < 0.001), which supports H5. Likewise, Chen (2013), Cheung et al.
, and Sharma and Klein (2020) agreed that the value which customers had given to the latex glove products indicated how important the products were for preventing the spread of bacteria and viruses. As product value emerged, customers showed a higher level of trust and thus willingness to include the product in their future consumption.
Second, product quality showed a positive association with customer trust (β = 0.23, p < 0.001), which supports H2. A better quality of latex glove product could demonstrate a more promising performance and thus satisfy customer demands, which could clear all suspicions and other perceived risks concerning the latex glove product. Similarly, Jacoby (2002) agrees that high-quality products significantly gained high trust from customers. Furthermore, perceived value partially mediated the association between product quality and trust (Table 3). Thus, the attitudes of customers regarding trust seemed to rely on the degree of product value perceived by customers.
Finally, perceived risk showed a negative association with customer trust (β = -0.04, p > 0.05), and a non-significant association with customer trust, which rejects H4. According to the current empirical results of this study, since customers considered high product quality as the main focus of their concerns, their perspectives on product risk seemed to be of no concern. Moreover, the high performance of latex glove products may have already gained not only high value among customers but also high trust among customers. Jacoby (2002) and Mohammed and Shahin (2020) also explain that if a product is considered to have a high and accurate performance, customers have no suspicion of the current firm's products. Therefore, any current uncertainty of the unexpected product risk appeared to not affect customer trust.
To sum up, the hypotheses testing results are recorded in Table 3. Thus, three hypotheses were accepted whereas two hypotheses were rejected (hypotheses 3 and 4).

CONCLUSION
The current study examined customer trust in Thailand's latex glove industry. Original and innovative marketing insights, which offer a notion of future customer trust, have been derived from the results of this study. The results firstly have indicated that product quality significantly affects perceived value whereas perceived risk does not show any significant effect on perceived value. Finally, customer trust is significantly influenced by both product quality and perceived value, except perceived risk. In comparison, the influence of perceived value on customer trust is stronger than product quality, since perceived value partially mediates the relationship between product quality and customer trust. Therefore, the attitudes based on customer trust rely substantially on the degree of customer's perceived value through improvements in the quality of the glove.
Although the study's primary purpose was met, limitations remain. For example, the study's data were gathered based on self-assessment; thus, there was some inaccurate information provided by the respondents. Therefore, any future study should employ a different data collection technique that minimizes any likelihood of bias, such as interviewing the respondents face to face and using structural questions. Second, the findings are based on the viewpoints of Thai people. As a result, it may be difficult to extrapolate the findings to other countries. Thus, a future study should include an international survey. Finally, because the findings are limited to the latex glove sector, they may be difficult to transfer to other contexts, such as the hotel or restaurant industries. Therefore, a new study is needed to employ similar factors in the investigation of various sectors.  19. Eons Gloves. (2021). Thailand ramps up medical glove production as it chases Malaysia. Retrieved from https://eonsglovesthailand. com/2020/10/27/thailand-rampsup-medical-glove-production-asit-chases-malaysia/