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The mediating effect of brand image between electronic word of mouth and
purchase intention in social media

Article · October 2016

DOI: 10.1166/asl.2016.7999

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 RESEARCH ARTICLE Adv. Sci. Lett. 22, 3176-3180, 2016

Copyright © 2016 American Scientific Publishers Advanced Science Letters

All rights reserved Vol. 22, 3176-3180, 2016
Printed in the United States of America

The Mediating Effect of Brand Image between

Electronic Word of Mouth and Purchase Intention
in Social Media
Nur Helyana Yunus, Mohd Shoki Md Ariff*, Norhuzaimah Mohd Som, Norhayati Zakuan, Zuraidah Sulaiman
Department of Business Administration, Faculty of Management,
Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM), Skudai, Johor, Malaysia
Corresponding author email: m-shoki@utm.my

Instagram is one of the fast growing social media platform, however studies related to the consumers’ purchasing behavior involving
Instagram particularly in the Malaysian context is less emphasized. In social media, brand image of a product is important as it can enhance
knowledge of consumers about the product and facilitate them to commit in purchasing behavior. Therefore, its role as mediator between electronic
word of mouth (e-WOM) and purchase intention is important to research. A self-administered survey was carried out by distributing online
questionnaires to the Instagram users using convenience sampling method. The results of SEM revealed that e-WOM factors positively and
significantly affect brand image and purchase intention, and purchase intention of Instagram’s users is positively influenced by the brand image. It
was found that the relationship between e-WOM factors and purchase intention is partially mediated by brand image. This research provides a
useful model of e-WOM, brand image and purchase intention for determining how consumers behave in communicating and reviewing products in
Instagram which gives impact to their purchase intention. Theoretical and practical implication of the study was discussed.

Keywords: e-WOM, Purchase Intention, Brand Image, Instagram of Social media

in 20132. Based on Lehman3, the best platform for online

1. INTRODUCTION
Social media has become effective integrated
marketing communications channel which allow online
marketers to establish a strong relationship with their
consumers1. Users of social media are actively connected
to each others through activities like “liking” a brand or a
product, commenting, repost, getting into contests or
advertise their own products on other profiles. Electronic
word of mouth (e-WOM) then is of interest to marketers
and researchers because why and how the users of social
media share, communicate comments and post or repost
pictures, products and services may influence their
intention to purchase. Customers’ reviews, comments and
feedback and how they spread out this information in
social media are vital for marketers to enhance brand
image of their products and encourage consumers’
purchase intention.
Instagram is one of the social networking sites like
Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Google Plus,
Tumblr and many more. In Malaysia, there are 5, 517,
954 Instagram users in 2015, tripled the amount of users
___________________________________________________________________
*
Email Address: m-shoki@utm.my
Adv. Sci. Lett. Vol. 22, No. 10, 2016
marketers to communicate with their customers in social
media is Instagram as the app is boasting roughly sixty
times compared to Facebook. As a result, examining e-
WOM and brand image impact on users’ intention to
purchase in Instagram is important and justified.
The number of studies which measure the effect of
brand image on purchase intention and the mediating role
of brand image between e-WOM and purchase intention
are limited4,5, especially in the context of social media,
particularly Instagram. Most previous studies related to
the e-WOM, brand image and purchase intention were
conducted in Facebook6 ignoring the important and
significant role of Instagram. There are researches of e-
WOM in other social media platforms like Instagram but
the sources are limited7. Further, brand image was used
as moderator8,9 and as mediator10 between e-WOM and
purchase intention. The role of brand image between e-
WOM and purchase intention and the mediation results of
brand image between the two variables remained
inconclusive. The mediating role of brand image is
crucial because it is formed on the basis of consumption
and act as intangible factor influencing intention of
consumers to purchase4.
The effects of e-WOM communication on brand image
doi: 10.1166/asl.2016.7999
Adv. Sci. Lett. 22, 3176-3180, 2016
and purchase intention for brands in social media should
be researched because e-WOM communication may have
a particularly important influence on consumers' behavior,
such as purchase intention11. In the Malaysian context,
the e-WOM and brand image impact on purchase
intention in Instagram is less emphasized. Thus, this
study is carried out to determine e-WOM factors affecting
purchase intention and brand image, the effect of brand
image on purchase intention as well as the mediating role
of brand image between e-WOM and purchase intention
among Instagram users in Malaysia. This research
provides a useful model of consumers’ purchase intention
in social media, particularly in Instagram by integrating
brand image as mediator between e-WOM and users’
purchase intention.
2. LITERATURE REVIEW
In social media context, e-WOM communication was
regarded as a major driver behind consumers’ purchase
intention and branding activities4. Brand image is
regarded as one of the influential factors for purchase
intention because it serves as a reference point in which
users share their knowledge and experience about the
brand, argue the quality, price and functionality of that
brand, and provide feedback and recommendation
whether to purchase or not that particular brand during
the e-WOM communication. The studies of e-WOM are
mostly based on various online social media including
blogs, forum and social networking sites4,10. Other
studies focusing on the impact of e-WOM on brand
image5 in which e-WOM plays a crucial role in the
process of sharing, discussing and interacting (e-WOM)
among users of social media. Some scholars attempted to
examine brand image as mediator between e-WOM and
purchase intention5,6 because brand image directly
involved in the purchase and consumption decisions
which influence users’ purchase intention4. However, the
mediating role of e-WOM between e-WOM and purchase
intention in Instagram of social media is less emphasized,
mainly because Facebook has dominated studies in social
media platforms, in which more than eighty percent of
Malaysians on the Internet access Facebook.
Purchase intention refers to what a consumer thinks
or considers to buy12. An individual with intention to
purchase a product demonstrates higher actual purchasing
rates as compared to customers who have no intention of
purchasing13. Consumers’ favorable or unfavorable
attitudes and belief towards a brand and purchase
intention in electronic environment, for example in social
media, are depending on the amount of negative and
positive online reviews of that brand14.
Brand image is a set of relationship that consumers
hold in their memory about a brand and it is reflected by
the brand associations apprehended in consumer’s mind15.
It is a set of beliefs held by consumers based on the
attributes of each brand and it represents the product
quality which can eventually affects the purchase
RESEARCH ARTICLE
intention of the consumers, particularly in the context of
social media networks5.
E-WOM referred to the consumers’ communication
all over the internet about the product information16. It
provides a basic for group individuals to establish social
associations among them and for the setting of virtual
groups. Thurau16 defined e-WOM as any positive or
negative comment made by previous, potential or actual
consumers about a product, company or a brand via the
Internet, for example e-communication among users of
social media. It is a form of word of mouth
communication about a product or brand4 among users in
internet or social media setting.
In online or social media platforms, users’
participation in e-WOM is actually to receive information
and to deliver market information to others, or vice
versa17. When users get comments about a product from
other users on social media, they tend to get more
information about the product by visiting the particular
websites. Consumers may consider these comments in
their purchasing decision which will lead into purchase
action. Past researches indicated that e-WOM has been
acknowledged to have a significant impact on brand
image and purchase intention.
Based on the past researches, most researchers stated
that friend communication, persuasiveness, opinion
seeking, informational influence, and content18-20 of e-
WOM factors can give impact to brand image and
purchase intention in online marketing environment.
Friend communication involved an activity where a
person shares his/her experience of a product or brand
with others which then provides value to them21. Instead
of asking for advice from individuals with expertise, users
of social media prefer to turn to their friends, family
members or other users.
In social networking sites context, content of e-WOM
is referred to openly-distributed digitized messages which
are created by consumers rather than professionals22. The
contents are created by users and uploaded to the social
media platforms as part of their activities and
contributions to other users of social media.
Persuasive messages of e-WOM focusing on the
attention of the users of social media, leading to a
reallocation of cognitive resources and eliciting responses,
such as an attitude change, or behavior23, for example
purchase intention and actual purchase. Positive product
or brand reviews give information to the users of social
media about satisfying encounters with that brand, and in
this manner will lead to positive results, such as a strong
brand image and purchase intention24.
Opinion-seeking behavior of a social media users
involve searching of reviews, comments or
recommendations about a product from other connected
users in the purchasing decision making process. In
social media, users usually depend on opinions or reviews
from others like the previous users to evaluate purchases.
In the context of e-WOM communication in social
RESEARCH ARTICLE
media like Instagram, users can locate an opportunity to
discuss with their peers about products’ or brands’
information which in turn may have impact on their
intention to purchase. The quality of brand information
of e-WOM is regarded as powerful reviews, comments or
recommendations, and may contribute to their acceptance
of that brand10. Elements of e-WOM information such as
information quality, authenticity, authority and
interestingness can influence users’ acceptance of the
messages, thus accuracy and usefulness of information
influence of e-WOM become the most important
dimension affecting brand image and intention to
purchase25.
The association of purchase intention, brand image
and e-WOM especially in social media platform
discussed contribute to the development of the research
model of this study. The model examines the mediating
effect of brand image between e-WOM and purchase
intention in Instagram as well as the impact of e-WOM
and brand image on purchase intention. This model
applies to the users of Instagram who have purchasing
experience using the platform. The model examines the
impact of e-WOM and brand image on purchase intention,
therefore, only users who purchased products via
Instagram would provide the required primary data.
Online quality and online quantity of comments both
were found to have positive influence on customer’s
purchase intentions26. Customer's favorable or
unfavorable attitudes towards purchase intention are
depending on the amount of negative and positive reviews
(e-WOM) of online customer14. Past researches indicated
the positive effect of e-WOM on purchase intention4,7.
Therefore H1 is proposed: e-WOM positively and
significantly relates to purchase intention.
In Instagram, comments, reviews or
recommendations (e-WOM) about a brand made by users
indicate their active participation in a virtual community.
A strong and favorable brand image is formed as a result
of positive e-WOM comments posted in Instagram. Past
research of Charo4 indicated that brand image is positively
influenced by e-WOM. Therefore, H2 is proposed: e-
WOM positively and significantly relates to brand image.
E-WOM and brand image on social media networks
has strong impact on the purchase intention of
consumers4,5. In addition, Keller15 also found that a good
brand image will increase consumer loyalty to a brand
and enhance consumers’ willingness to purchase a
product. Therefore, H3 is proposed: Brand image
positively and significantly relates to purchase intention.
E-WOM on social media networks has strong impact
on brand image which ultimately affects the purchase
intention of consumers5. Positive eWOM plays an
important role in increasing customers' willingness to
purchase and creating a favorable brand image, and this
image facilitate customers' purchase intentions5. In social
media, most users need a reference to strengthen their
confidence in making purchase decision, and sharing of
Adv. Sci. Lett. 22, 3176-3180, 2016
information about a product and brand image of the
product decrease the feeling of making mistakes or risks7.
In social media, Bataineh7 stressed the mediating role of
corporate image between e-WOM and purchase intention.
Past research indicated that corporate/brand image
mediates the relationship between e-WOM and purchase
intention7,15. Therefore, H4 is proposed: Brand image
mediate the relationship between e-WOM and purchase
intention
3. METHODOLOGY
This study employed a self-administered questionnaire
to gather primary data from Instagram users. The first
part (Section A) of the instrument is respondent
information of gender, age, education level, monthly
income, experience of purchasing products via Instagram
and type of products purchased. The other sections are
Section B of e-WOM factors consists of five items each
for persuasiveness, opinion seeking, content, friend
communication and four questions for informational
influence4,5,7,9, Section C of brand image with five items
and Section D of purchase intention with five items 4,7,9.
The population of this study is the Instagram users of
Malaysia. The total number of the users is unknown and
it is very difficult to use probability sampling procedure.
However, it is determined that the respondents must be
users of Instagram who have experience purchasing
products using this social media channel. Convenience
sampling procedure of nonprobability sampling technique
was chosen using multivariate data analysis27. Thus, it is
set to collect 340 usable questionnaires from users of
Instagram to achieve 5% margin error as the total number
of items in the questionnaire is 34. The survey
questionnaire was distributed to Instagram users through
website named kwiksurveys.com. In five weeks’ time,
350 completed and usable questionnaires were collected.
4. RESULT AND ANALYSIS
In the first round of Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA),
all items of e-WOM factors – Friend communication,
Persuasiveness and Informational influence were well
loaded in their respective factors with factor loading
of >0.5 However, all items of Content and Opinion
Seeking were loaded in the same factor, therefore these
two factors of e-WOM were combined to form
Content/Opinion Seeking. In the second round of EFA,
all items for e-WOM factors, Brand Image and Purchase
intention were well loaded in their respective components.
The values of KMO measures of sampling adequacy for
e-WOM, brand image and purchases intention are 0.946,
0.796 and 0.854 respectively, with Bartlett’s test of
Sphericity of 0.000. The total variance explained for all
constructs are 66.466% for e-WOM, 61.409% for brand
image and 70.718 for purchase intention. Further, the
Cronbach’s Alpha values of e-WOM factors are 0.895
(persuasiveness), 0.897 (Content/Opinion seeking), 0.911
Adv. Sci. Lett. 22, 3176-3180, 2016
(Friend communication) and 0.837 (Informational
influence) and 0.838 (BI) and 0.896 (PI).
For unidimensionality, factor loading of more than 0.6
for all items is required to ensure the strength of the items
with their respective factors is acceptable. Based on the
Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) result, the factor
loading for four items of friend communication were
retained with factor loading of >0.6, and one item (FC4)
was removed. For content/opinion seeking, all the five
items of content and items OS1, OS4 and OS5 of opinion
seeking were retained with factor loading of >0.6. Items
OS2 and OS3 of Opinion seeking were removed since the
factor loading <0.6. The factor loading for all items of
informational influence (four items) and persuasiveness
(five items) were well above 0.6, thus they were retained
for further analysis. For brand image, factor loading of
item no 4 is .53, thus it has been deleted. Factor loading
for the other four items of brand image were >0.6. There
are no items (five items) of purchase intention with factor
loading of <0.6, thus there were retained for further
analysis. It is important to note that initial and final
measurement model tests were carried out to determine
model fit statistics for e-WOM factors, BI and purchase
intention. The model fit statistics set are RMSEA İ0.08,
GFIı0.9, AGFIı0.8, TLIı0.9, CFIı0.9, Chisq/dfİ3.
For construct validity, the fitness indices of
measurement model are assessed after setting the free
parameter. The model fit statistics set are RMSEA İ
0.08, GFI ı 0.8, AGFI ı 0.8, TLI ı 0.9, CFI ı 0.9,
Chisq/dfİ3. Initially, the measurement model showed a
poor fit, thus item FC 5 of Friend communication, items
OS1 and OS4 of content/opinion seeking, II1 of
Informational influence and items BI4 and BI5 of brand
image were removed. All the indices values for the final
measurement model are within the required levels, which
show satisfactory of the measurement model.
All AVE values are >0.5, supporting the convergent
validity of the measurement model of e-WOM factors,
brand image and purchase intention. The results of
composite reliability for the three constructs are >0.7,
supporting the measurement model of the study. For
discriminant validity, the AVE values of 0.646 (e-WOM
factors), 0.503 (BI) and 0.624 (PI) are greater than square
of correlation amongst the constructs, showing that the
discriminant validity is supported.
The impact of brand image and e-WOM on purchase
intention is presented in Figure 1. The results revealed
that e-WOM, without brand image has a direct and
significant effect on purchase intention with rc=0.81
(C.R=10.759, P<.001). E-WOM, with brand image, has a
significant effect on purchase intention with rc=.72
(CR=9.334, P<.001). The direct and significant effect of
e-WOM on brand image is rc=.71 (C.R.=12.500, P<.001).
Further, brand image has a direct and significant effect on
purchase intention with rc= 0.12 (CR= 1.775, p<0.001).
Hence, it is proved that brand image partially mediates
the relationship between e-WOM factor and purchase
RESEARCH ARTICLE
intention. The direct effect of e-WOM on purchase
intention (e-WOM-PI) is 0.81 and the indirect effect of e-
WOM on purchase intention (e-WOM-BI-PI) is 0.09.
The indirect effect of brand intention between e-WOM
and purchase intention is tested using the following
suggested values: (1) Indirect effect (IE) > 0.01 ı low
effect; (2) IE > 0.09 ı Moderate effect; (3) IE > 0.250 ı
High effect7. As the indirect effect (IE) of e-WOM factor
to purchase intention is 0.09, thus it is a moderate effect
of mediation of brand image between e-WOM and
purchase intention.
Figure 1: The mediating effect of brand image between e-
WOM factors and purchase intention in social media
5. DISCUSSIONS
The SEM result showed that brand image partially
mediate the relationship between the two variables, in
which H4 is supported (rc=0.72; C.R= 9.344, P<0.001).
This finding is synced with the work of Bataineh7 who
stressed on the mediating role of corporate image/brand
image between e-WOM and purchase intention.
Therefore, it can be concluded that e-WOM
communication among users of Instagram has an indirect
impact on purchase intention through its impact on brand
image. This finding suggests that the creation of brand
image among users of social media facilitate them to link
their thinking and purchase decision with a set of brand
association. A strong brand image increase user’s
association with a particular brand and they tend to link
this association with their purchase intention.
In addition, e-WOM was found to have positive effect
on purchase intention and brand image, thus H1 and H2
were supported. The positive effect of e-WOM on
purchase intention is consistent with previous studies4,5,7,9.
Further, the positive effect of e-WOM on brand image is
also consistent with previous researches4,10. Thus, e-
RESEARCH ARTICLE
WOM communication of Instagram’s users was important
antecedent of purchase intention and brand image. If
marketers are able to create positive reviews of e-WOM
among their customers, it will enhance the brand image.
For example, users of Instagram rely on peer-to-peer
community recommendation about a brand and the
relationships among group members has made the
positive recommendation as reliable and trusted. As
discussed earlier, e-WOM recommendation has a massive
effect on brand image because peer users are apparent
more objective and credible information sources which
positively affect brand value and brand image. Most
users can be affected with the reviews or such positively
recommendations related with intention to purchase that
they obtain from the previous consumers, and this will
directly affect their product choices.
Purchase intention was also influenced by brand
image, therefore, H3 is supported. This finding is synced
with the study of Charo4. Brand image is the most
influential factor for purchase intention, thus it is
important for marketers to design suitable marketing
strategies for enhancing their brand image in social media.
6. CONCLUSIONS
The results of this study showed that e-WOM and
brand image positively affect purchase intention of users
of Instagram. The relationship between e-WOM and
purchase intention among Instagram users was mediated
by the brand image. These associations are observed
among users of Facebook. Since constructs of e-WOM
factors, brand image and purchase intention of this study
was adapted from studies in Facebook, therefore
extending this association to other social media platforms
or social networking sites, for example Twitter, LinkedIn,
Pinterest, Google Plus, Tumblr, would provide a good
model to predict purchase intention of social media users.
Users’ communication in Instagram is subtle, innocent,
and playful and without social expectation, thus
generalization of the mediating role of brand image
between e-WOM and purchase intention in all social
media platforms should be researched.
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