Determinants of Customs Broker Service Adoption and Its Mediating Role in Import Operational Performance of Import Business in Thailand
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Abstract
This study aims to examine the influence of Service Quality Factors (SQF), Cost and Value Factors (CVF), Regulatory and Risk Factors (RRF), and Relationship and Trust Factors (RTF) on the Decision to Use Customs Broker Services (DCS), and to analyze the mediating role of DCS in linking these factors to the Operational Performance of Import Businesses (OPB). The research employs a quantitative approach, collecting data from 258 entrepreneurs, executives, and personnel involved in import operations in Thailand with more than one year of experience. Data were gathered using structured questionnaires and analyzed through Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM).
The findings reveal that all four factors exert statistically significant positive effects on DCS, with RTF and RRF demonstrating stronger effect sizes than SQF and CVF. The model shows an acceptable fit (SRMR = 0.0597) and explains 37.5 percent and 28.6 percent of the variance in DCS and OPB, respectively. Bootstrapping with 5,000 subsamples confirms that DCS has a significant positive effect on OPB and functions as a mediating mechanism with differentiated patterns. Specifically, SQF exhibits full mediation through DCS; CVF and RRF demonstrate indirect-only mediation without significant direct effects on OPB; and RTF displays partial mediation, exerting both direct and indirect influences on OPB. Accordingly, this study provides new theoretical insight by conceptualizing DCS as a strategic mediating mechanism that systematically transmits the influence of contextual factors to operational performance. The findings underscore the structural role of managerial decision-making in transforming service quality, cost considerations, regulatory pressures, and relational dynamics into measurable operational outcomes in international trade contexts.
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References
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