Supply Chain Disruptions and Transparency: The Role of Customer Trust in Building Brand Loyalty

Abstract

Purpose – This research explores the disruption in supply chain and transparency level impact on brand loyalty, by a mediating factor of customer trust. It responds to the increasing fragility of supply chains under volatile conditions and examines transparency as a strategic tool to maintain consumer relations.

Design/methodology/approach – The cross-sectional survey-based quantitative research design was adopted Simple Random Sampling, a Probability Sampling Technique was used and Data were gathered from 395 consumers who are active digitally through a structured questionnaire and analyzed by Partial PLS-SEM using SmartPLS 3.

Findings – Results indicates both supply chain disruption and customer trust are strong predictors of brand loyalty, and transparency has strong positive impacts on these outcomes. Customer trust is observed is an important driver of brand loyalty and mediates the relational between disruption, transparency and loyalty. The mediation analysis showed significant indirect effects customer trust. The model revealed good explanatory power, with R² = 0.755 for brand loyalty and R² = 0.738 for customer trust.

Practical implications – Companies need to focus on transparency and building trust through communication and traceability to help mitigate the impact of disruption and maintain consumer loyalty.

Originality/value – This research fills a theoretical and empirical void by combining disruption, transparency, and trust in one model, which has practical implications for resilience and competitive advantage in volatile markets.