The Role of Brand Image Mediates the Effect of Electronic Word of Mouth (E-WOM) on Purchase Intention

ABSTRACT: The purpose of this study was to describe the influence of e-WOM to purchase intention, the influence of e-WOM to brand image, the influence of brand image to purchase intention and brand image role in mediating the relationship between electronic word of mouth (e-WOM) to purchase intention of smartphone Xiaomi in Denpasar. The object of this study is Xiaomi smartphone. Samples using 100 respondent with purposive sampling techniques. This study used path analysis. The results showed, there is no significant with positive influence between e-WOM on the purchase intention, there is a positive significant influence between eWOM on the brand image, there is a positive significant influence between the brand image and the purchase intention and brand image is able to significantly mediate the influence of e-WOM on purchase intention, which indicates that the e-WOM accompanied by the brand image will influence and determine the purchase intention of smartphone Xiaomi.
KEYWORDS: Brand Image, electronic word of mouth (E-WOM), purchase intention