Building members' trust in a producer company through social capital

Abstract

PurposeThe paper contributes to the long-standing interest in studying the relationship of social capital and trust. It examines the relationship between social capital and trust in a producer company and the role of perceived benefits as a mediating variable.Design/methodology/approachA multistage sampling was done to collect data from 395 farmer members from five producer companies spread over three states of India. Through exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) latent constructs were mapped, and composite reliability and construct validity were established. PROCESS macro of Statistical Product and Service Solutions (SPSS) was used to probe relationship between social capital and member's trust and mediation effect of perceived benefit.FindingsThe authors’ research findings establish that the social capital has a positive and significant relationship with members' trust in a producer company and perceived benefit mediates this relationship.Research limitations/implicationsThe paper contributes to reduce complexity of social capital theory by differentiating sources and benefits of social capital. It opens up the avenues of testing theoretically valid mediation effects of many other constructs.Originality/valueThe role of member's perceived benefits as a mediator between social capital and members' trust is a new knowledge to the literature of social capital.