The Role of Fronting Agents’ Trust and Loyalty in Mediating the Effects of Incentive Systems, Organizational Support, Competence, and Job Satisfaction on Retirement Loan Sales Performance

Abstract

Retirement loan distribution relies heavily on fronting agents whose attitudes and organizational relationships may shape sales outcomes. However, positive perceptions of organizational practices do not necessarily translate into objective sales performance. This study aimed to examine the effects of incentive systems, organizational support, competence, and job satisfaction on sales performance through agent trust and loyalty at the Jasa Jadimulya Berkah Sejahtera Cooperative. A quantitative causal-correlational approach was employed using a saturated sample of 87 fronting agents and a five-point Likert-scale questionnaire. Perceptual relationships were analyzed using PLS-SEM, while objective sales performance was examined separately using appropriate statistical models. The results showed that job satisfaction significantly influenced agent trust (? = 0.775), while incentive systems, organizational support, and competence had no significant partial effects. Agent trust strongly influenced loyalty (? = 0.901), whereas loyalty did not significantly affect objective sales performance. Consequently, all chained mediation hypotheses involving trust and loyalty toward sales performance were rejected. Contextual findings revealed substantial inequality in sales opportunities, with a Gini coefficient of 0.806 and 71.3% of sales concentrated in five offices. The study concludes that job satisfaction and trust are crucial for building agent loyalty, but loyalty alone is insufficient to improve sales performance without adequate market opportunities and operational support.