TITLE:
Customer Trust as a Mechanism Linking Servicescapes and Loyalty in Small Businesses
AUTHORS:
Aaron Joyal
KEYWORDS:
Servicescapes, Customer Trust, Customer Loyalty, Need for Affiliation, Small Business
JOURNAL NAME:
American Journal of Industrial and Business Management,
Vol.16 No.9,
September
18,
2026
ABSTRACT: This study examines whether customer trust helps explain how perceived servicescape value relates to customer loyalty in small businesses. It also tests whether need for affiliation predicts more favorable servicescape evaluations. Survey data from 265 customers were analyzed using confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modeling. Need for affiliation was positively associated with perceived servicescape value, servicescape value was positively associated with trust and loyalty, and trust was positively associated with loyalty. Trust also showed a significant partial mediation effect between servicescape value and loyalty. The findings suggest that customers read the servicescape not only as an experience setting but also as a signal of business trustworthiness, although the cross-sectional self-report design limits causal inference.