Impact of Employer Branding, Social Media Marketing & EWOM on Consumer Online Purchase Intention with Mediation of Brand Trust

Abstract

This study aimed to determine the impact of social media marketing on brand trust and online purchase intention, to determine if social media marketing and electronic word of mouth undoubtedly help customers get more and more information about the product or brand more than the conventional means i.e. word of mouth, to determine the impact of brand trust on online purchase intention as well to know the consumer's assurance in purchasing products online. The research design employed in this study is causal research, aimed at understanding the behaviour of social media users. To gather data for the study, social media platforms served as the data collection channels. A total of 219 respondents participated in an online questionnaire, and the structural equation modelling (SEM) technique was utilized to track the hypothesized causal relationships. The outcomes of this study identify that consumers exhibit more trust in social media marketing compared to social EWOM. As a result, it is advisable to prioritize hypotheses that garnered acceptance and appear more viable and dependable for generating online purchase intentions. It's important to note that this research is confined to the apparel industry, with data primarily collected from urban areas due to their higher levels of literacy, awareness, fashion sense, technology use, and income compared to rural areas, where social media device usage is limited.