The influence of social media on purchase intention: The

Majeed, Mohammed; Owusu-Ansah, Martin; Ashmond, Adu-Ansere Article The influence of social media on purchase intention: The Cogent Business & Management Provided in Cooperation with: Taylor & Francis Group Suggested Citation: Majeed, Mohammed; Owusu-Ansah, Martin; Ashmond, Adu-Ansere (2021) : The influence of social media on purchase intention: The, Cogent Business & Management, ISSN 2331-1975, Taylor & Francis, Abingdon, Vol. 8, Iss. 1, pp. 1-19, https://doi.org/10.1080/23311975.2021.1944008 This Version is available at: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/245075 Standard-Nutzungsbedingungen: Die Dokumente auf EconStor dürfen zu eigenen wissenschaftlichen Zwecken und zum Privatgebrauch gespeichert und kopiert werden. Sie dürfen die Dokumente nicht für öffentliche oder kommerzielle Zwecke vervielfältigen, öffentlich ausstellen, öffentlich zugänglich machen, vertreiben oder anderweitig nutzen. Sofern die Verfasser die Dokumente unter Open-Content-Lizenzen (insbesondere CC-Lizenzen) zur Verfügung gestellt haben sollten, gelten abweichend von diesen Nutzungsbedingungen die in der dort genannten Lizenz gewährten Nutzungsrechte. Terms of use: Documents in EconStor may be saved and copied for your personal and scholarly purposes. You are not to copy documents for public or commercial purposes, to exhibit the documents publicly, to make them publicly available on the internet, or to distribute or otherwise use the documents in public. If the documents have been made available under an Open Content Licence (especially Creative Commons Licences), you may exercise further usage rights as specified in the indicated licence. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Full Terms & Conditions of access and use can be found at https://www.tandfonline.com/action/journalInformation?journalCode=oabm20 Cogent Business & Management ISSN: (Print) (Online) Journal homepage: https://www.tandfonline.com/loi/oabm20 The influence of social media on purchase intention: The mediating role of brand equity Mohammed Majeed, Martin Owusu-Ansah & Adu-Ansere Ashmond | To cite this article: Mohammed Majeed, Martin Owusu-Ansah & Adu-Ansere Ashmond | (2021) The influence of social media on purchase intention: The mediating role of brand equity, Cogent Business & Management, 8:1, 1944008, DOI: 10.1080/23311975.2021.1944008 To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.1080/23311975.2021.1944008 © 2021 The Author(s). This open access article is distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY) 4.0 license. Published online: 05 Jul 2021. Submit your article to this journal Article views: 5674 View related articles View Crossmark data MARKETING | RESEARCH ARTICLE The influence of social media on purchase intention: The mediating role of brand equity Mohammed Majeed 1 *, Martin Owusu-Ansah 2 and Adu-Ansere Ashmond 3 Abstract: The paper examined the relationship between social media and purchase intention and the mediation role of brand equity within Ghana’s fashion industry. The study was quantitative and employed the survey methodology to sample the views of 500 fashion customers. Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) and the structural equation modelling (SEM) technique were used using AMOS software version 22.0 to determine the hypothesized relationships of the study. The study findings revealed that surveillance, Information sharing and remuneration have significant and positive effects on brand equity. However, the relationship between social interaction and entertainment have negative and insignificant on brand equity. The positive significant relationships proposed to exist between brand equity and consumer purchase intention were all accepted. The findings can contribute to the scant empirical works that social media on brand equity and purchase intention in a single study. Recommendations were further made for management in the clothing industry, policy makers, and future researchers. Subjects: Consumer Psychology; Communication Theory; Information Technology Keywords: Fashion; social media; uses and gratification; purchase intention; brand equity Mohammed Majeed ABOUT THE AUTHOR Dr Majeed M. is a Lecturer (PhD) at Tamale Technical University, Tamale-Ghana. His current research interest includes branding, social media in service organizations. Majeed holds Doctor of Business Administration (DBA), MPhil and MBA Marketing. He lectures part time in many Ghanaian public Universities and a reviewer to many Journals in Management, hospitality, and marketing. Majeed has also published in good journals like Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Insights (Emerald). Adu-Ansere Ashmond is a part-time lecturer at AAM-USTED in Kumasi, Ghana. His areas of research interest are marketing strategy, consumer behavior, social marketing, sustainability, green marketing and related areas. PUBLIC INTEREST STATEMENT Social media communication has to be expansively investigated since it plays a relevant role in creating brand equity and influencing consumer decisions. In this study, empirical research was conducted. The social media aspects looks at the inspirations and satisfaction consumers get by employing uses and gratification theory to understand how social media becomes a forbearer of brand equity and how that eventually affect consumers’ decision to effect purchase. The study used brand equity to moderate the influence of social media on purchase intention. The study concludes that brand equity plays a significant role in influencing buyer intentions. The study again found three dimensions of social media to be significant, but two were insignificant. Tentatively, this result may enrich social media and brand equity literature and particularly contribute to the formation of purchase intention. Essentially, the outcomes may be used to evaluate company promotional mix elements, specifically the development of communication strategy. Majeed et al., Cogent Business & Management (2021), 8: 1944008 https://doi.org/10.1080/23311975.2021.1944008 Page 1 of 19 Received: 23 January 2021 Accepted: 14 June 2021 *Corresponding author: Mohammed Majeed, Department of Marketing, Tamale Technical University, Tamale E-mail: [email protected] Reviewing editor: Carlos Gomez Corona, Consumer Research, Firmenich SA, Mexico City, Mexico Additional information is available at the end of the article © 2021 The Author(s). This open access article is distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY) 4.0 license. 1. Introduction The history of Ghanaian fashion is traced back to the pre-colonial era when indigenous Ghanaians used barks of trees and hides of animals to clothe themselves (Adu-Akwaboa, 1994). Today, Ghanaian Fashion has undergone a complete overhaul because of globalization. In order to remain competitive, IT based of awareness creation and sales are necessary. As a means of getting the attention and meeting specific needs of customers, experts in advertising have begun the use of social media website appeals in crafting advertisement in order to motivate users to share brand image (Waters, Canfield, Foster & Hardy, 2011; Gallaugher & Ransbotham, 2010; Dickey & Lewis, 2010). In addition, research by CliqAfrica and Avante (2016) postulate that the presence of fashion brands in Ghana is increasingly growing on social media platforms. According to Kemp (2020), Ghana had about 6.00 million social media users as of January 2020. The total number of social media users in the country increased by 629 thousand (+12%) between April 2019 and January 2020. Social media penetration in Ghana stood at 20% in January 2020. This is therefore an indication that Ghanaian fashion brands are also embracing social media (Aseidu, 2017). Fashion includes any market or product which contains a stylist element and will possibly exist within a period of time (Aseidu, 2017). The worldwide web was invented 28 years ago (Zhung, 2017). According to Karman (2015) the revolution of the internet has transformed the way data and information are gathered, way of communicating and how businesses are conducted globally. Accordingly, Stojanovic, Andreu and Curras-Perez (2018) indicated that in the last two decades social media intensity has triggered a marketing communication revolution providing different opportunities for interface between brands and users. The web 2.0 technology makes it simple for firms and customers to create and display content, share information, and recommend products to other users (Hutagalung, Dalimunthe, Pambudi, Hutagalung4 & Muda, 2017). The subsequent development of the social media has transformed the way people interact and share information with each other. This study focuses on Instagram (social media). Instagram is a mobile request and application that enables users to crack their mobile photos into images, and then shared on the Instagram application (Treitel, 2020). Those images can as well be shared on other social media network sites such as Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr and foursquare. According to Ershad and Aghajani (2017), Instagram is seen to be the fastest rising worldwide network site. It has over 400 million continuing monthly users and 80 million shared pictures with 3.5 million likes on daily basis (Hawi & Samaha, 2016). Treitel (2020) opined that Instagram has become widespread and more popular in people’s way of life, which can have adverse psychological effect. Today, people spend so much time on social media such as Instagram. According to Agnihotri et al. (2016); Huang, Roth & Madden (2016); Zhan, Sun, Wang & Zhang (2016), businesses could make use of social media as a tool for creating and sustaining relationships with customers, improving brand equity and increase firm’s performance. Brand equity is an important concept for understanding the objectives, mechanisms and the net impact of marketing efforts (Reynold & Philips, 2005). Aaker (1991) defines brand equity as a set of brand assets and liabilities linked to a brand, its name and symbol that add to or subtract from the value provided by a product or service to a firm and/or to that firm’s customers. According to Yoo and Donthu (2001), brand equity marks the difference in consumer choice between the focal branded product and an unbranded product given the same level of product features. Hence, brand equity generates value for consumers and helps brands create defensible competitive positions that cannot be easily transferred to other brands (Pitta & Kastsanis, 1995). Brands have resorted to several strategies including advertising, sales force, public relations, slogans and symbols in the attempt to develop brand equity (Aaker, 1991). Yazdanparast et al. (2015) opine that social media-based marketing activities tend to be an effective marketing strategy to build brand equity in this digital era. Consequently, brands have incorporated social media marketing into their marketing strategies to build lasting relationships and connections with consumers (Erdogmus & Cicek, 2012). Majeed et al., Cogent Business & Management (2021), 8: 1944008 https://doi.org/10.1080/23311975.2021.1944008 Page 2 of 19 The function of social media as a forebearer of brand equity in the fashion industry is a scarcely researched theme (Keller, 2016). The interaction between users and brands has greater importance for brands since social media users depends on the advice of other user (Stojanovic et al., 2018), and this interaction amongst them stimuluses consumer decision-making process (Chan, 2019; Hinz et al., 2011). Recently, firms have become aware of the need to recognize the impact of social media communication and brand perception (Kumar et al., 2016; Stojanovic et al., 2018). Incontrovertibly, past studies have demonstrated a deeper and good understanding of social media communication (Swaminathan, 2016), yet very few studies have been conducted on interface of users with fashion brands (Stojanovic et al., 2018), neither have combined social media, brand equity and purchase intention in a single study. Again studies that have been conducted in areas of social media have used theories such as social presence theory (SPT) (Karikari, OseiFrimpong & Owusu-Frimpong, 2017), theory of planned behaviour (TPB), theory of reasoned action (TRA) and technology acceptance model (TAM) (Ajjan & Harstshorne, 2008; Chang et al., 2015) to highlight intention to use social media or its adoption. Therefore, scholars have researched social media communications in varied spheres for instance, the effect of social media and brand equity (Zahoor & Qureshi, 2017), predictors of social media analysis (Guede, Curiel & Antonoviaca, 2017), antecedents of social media marketing application (Brech, Messer, Schee, Rauschnabel & Ivens, 2017), effectiveness of social media in improving purchase intentions (Dehghani & Tumer, 2015), creative strategies in social media marketing (Ashley & Tuten, 2015), user interaction on social media and purchase intention (Hutter, Hautz, & Dennhardt, 2013), foundation of social media communication (Constantinides, 2014), impact of social media communication on brand loyalty (Balakrishman, Dahnil & Yi, 2014), and effect of social marketing on brand loyalty (Erdogmus & Cicek, 2012). Even though there is huge number of studies also on social media and brand equity (GurhanCanli et al., 2016; Keller, 2016; Schivinski & Dabroski, 2015), there is inadequate research investigating social media, brand equity and purchase intention of Instagram users. Again, a study is yet to be sited comprehensively researching into social media, brand equity and purchase intention of fashion products in developing markets like Ghana. Consequently, the focus of this study is to investigate the association amongst social media, and consumer purchase intentions mediated by brand equity in the context of fashion product categories in Ghana. The main problem of the research is to study whether social media is positively contributing to brand perception with specific reference to Ghanaian social media (Instagram) users. The rest of the sections are as follows: Section 2 looks at comprehensive review of literature on social media (and uses and gratification theory), followed by conceptual model. The next section focuses on research methodology, followed by summary of findings. Finally, we present discussions, conclusions, implication for practice and theory and limitations and suggestions for future studies. 2. Literature review and development of hypothesis The theories underpinning this research are the uses and gratification theory and theory of planned behaviour. 2.1. Theory of planned behaviour TPB was developed by Ajzen (1985), which is an extension of the theory of reasoned action (TRA) by Fishbein & Azjen (1975). Bojei and Abu (2016) referred to TPB as the degree to which an individual has either positive or negative assessment of a specific behaviour. TPB says that, many human behaviour can be predicted from behaviour intention and that consumers can behave in a planned manner and deliberately (King, 2019). In this study, the output variable (purchase intention) is anchored on the framework of theory of planned behaviour (TPB), because purchase intention is incorporated under the concept of behavioural intention (Ahmed, 2014). In TPB, intention is perceived as a direct forebear of genuine behaviour (Lin & Chen, 2010). Since most Majeed et al., Cogent Business & Management (2021), 8: 1944008 https://doi.org/10.1080/23311975.2021.1944008 Page 3 of 19 of the existing SM research has been conducted in Asia (Lee & Ma, 2012) and the United States (Choi, 2016), there is still a lack of emerging perspective. This study focuses on Ghanaian social media users who, compared to the developed markets social media users, are still very confined when it relates to using social media to promote brands (Newman, Fletcher, Levy, & Nielsen, 2016). Study in the Ghanaian context can therefore help to shed more light on the importance and universality of previously recognized interrelations. The TPB models the influence of motives and attitudes on intention and, subsequently, intention on behaviour. 2.2. Gratification Theory (UGT) The UGT was developed (Katz, Blumler & Gurevitch, 1973) to assess user inspirations and gratifications of a particular media (Musal, Azmi & Ismail, 2016). UGT was one of the first approaches to study the dynamic role of the audience in media choice, recommending that people actively search for, identify with and employ media to fulfil specific gratification needs (Ku, Chu, & Tseng, 2013). This perspective recognizes that consumers are active social media (on Instagram), rather than passive, recipients of media. Considered one of the most effective frameworks, scholars have used U&G theory to explore a variety of social media sharing behaviour, including sharing links (Baek et al., 2011), news (Hanson & Haridakis 2008; Lee & Ma, 2012) and photos (Malik et al., 2016; Sung et al., 2016). In particular, this study explores the aim of use of Instagram users through the UGT though with some mediator variable in the background. Limited research works have been conducted to study the continuous use of SNS intention by following various theories, such as motivation theory, expectations-confirmation theory, social capital theory, and so on. Recently, most SNS studies have implemented the UGT to assess the intention to continue using SNS (AlJabri et al., 2015; Hsiao et al., 2015). 2.3. Social media Social media are the different online platform and communities that encourage social interaction where users can exchange their views, experience and observations (Schroeder, 2017). Social media come in multiple form like Facebook, weblogs, wikis, LinkIn, Twitter, podcast and others (Yazdanparast, Joseph & Muniz, 2016). Social media offers significant opportunities for firms to engage buyers individually (Harrigan & Miles, 2014). Pena (2019) said, social media is an engagement platform that enable trust building that is important to the formation of brand equity. Social media has been regarded as a real mechanism that contributes to the organization’s marketing goals and strategies in respect of customer communication, customer relationship management (CRM) and customer involvement (Alalwan, Rana, Dwivendi & Algharabat, 2017). 2.4. Instagram as social media From UGT perspective, there many motives for using Instagram including medium appeal, surveillance, social interaction, entertainment, coolness, documentation, creativity, self-expression and convenience (Alhabash & Ma, 2017; Sheldon & Bryant, 2016), time passing, task management, selfpopularity motives (Kircaburun et al., 2018). Instagram is found to make people close to the families and friends from educational and informational, self-promotion and passing time motives/gratifications (Manasijevic et al., 2016; Sendurur et al., 2015) as well as posting selfies and photos (Kim & Chock, 2017); hence, UGT fits well in this study. Khan (2017) showed that users gain gratifications through viewing, commentating, liking and sharing of videos on Instagram. This current study considered entertainment, surveillance, social interaction, remunerative and information sharing. 2.5. Brand equity In the 1990s, brand equity emerged. The development of brand equity is a complex process (Couto & Ferreira, 2017). Sasmita and Suki (2015) noted that a brand is the most valuable strength and assets of all firms. Regardless of the intangibility of brand equity, it provides value to the firm, leading to customer loyalty, creating and expanding opportunities, competitive advantage, negotiating power and higher margins (Perera, Wijesekera, Priyadarshani, Kodippili & Jayasuriya, 2019). Social media appears as a significant predictor of brand equity for general brand and high Majeed et al., Cogent Business & Management (2021), 8: 1944008 https://doi.org/10.1080/23311975.2021.1944008 Page 4 of 19 involvement products and services (Colicev et al., 2018). The consumer brand equity dimensions of this research are anchored on Schivinski and Debrowski (2015) categorization including brand quality, loyalty, awareness and association. 2.6. Purchase intentions (PI) Purchase intention is indicated as buying behaviour (Martins, Costa, Oliveira, Goncalves, & Branco, 2019). A considerable amount of papers has published on purchase intention on inline platform (Rahim, Safin, Kheng, Abas & Ali, 2016). Purchase intention is a mixture of consumers’ interests in and likelihood of purchasing the product (Kim & Ko, 2012). Determining PI adopts buyer future behaviour based on their attitudes (Kim & Ko, 2010 b ). On social media platform, there is exchange of information, ratings and responses that enables people to have trust and overcome the insecurities, which result in willingness to buy firms product (Bong, 2017). Consumers will usually undertake a process of appreciating the intended product or service to purchase, research, and analysis of the product before pledging to buy it (Lim et al., 2016). Online buying intentions become key element that can influence the usefulness of online stimuli (Shaouf, Lu & Li, 2016; Elwalda, Lu & Ali, 2016; Lu, Fan & Zhou, 2016). PI is the basis of demonstrating buying behaviour (Martins et al., 2019). 2.6.1. Social media and brand equity SMC comprises marketing-related activities such as sharing online and blogging (Yazdanparast et al., 2016) and consists of applications, platforms and tools that allow customers to connect and communicate with one another (Pinto & Yagnik, 2017). Marketing managers are well aware of the need to understand the impact of social media communication on brand perception/equity (Kumar et al., 2016). SMC is a type of content that is shared on social media networks with goal of increasing awareness and persuading customers (Hanaysha, 2016). It is said the goal of advertising is to create brand equity in many ways including customer satisfaction, perceived quality, brand image, brand awareness and brand equity (Kumar et al., 2016). Advertising in social media helps to recall a brand and brand recognition particularly during purchase (Raza, Bakar & Mohamad, 2017). 2.6.2. Surveillance and brand equity Surveillance refers to the need for information and evidence about influencers, which can assist people (Davis, 2009). Achieved via a passive social media use mode aimed at increasing one’s knowledge of the immediate social environment or just knowing what’s happening within the social network. It includes searching for specific types of people using advanced search characteristics; social network surfing, browsing statuses and profiles (including photos) of friends and friends of friends alternatively as those of other total strangers (Ruggiero, 2000). Asmah (2011) indicated that people use some type of media to monitor what is going on within and outside their realm. Hence social media is what individuals use to monitor what others are doing (Whiting & Williams, (2013). The traditional media is unable to report the whole shebang due to vastness of space, fear and censorship, whilst in social media people can upload videos, images and comment on such platforms (Musal et al., 2016). This is what culminates into gorilla journalism (Papoola, 2014). From the discussions above, it is hypothesized that H1: Surveillance has a significant positive relationship with brand equity. 2.6.3. Social interaction and brand equity UGT social interaction the context denotes to the need to build and develop relationship s and connect with others. The fundamental nature of social media is participatory, via which the sharing of content is both a form of expression and means of relationship building (van House et al. 2005). Social interactivity is widely regarded as an essential factor in determining a variety of affective and behavioural outcomes such as satisfaction, attitude, decision-making and encompassment (Coyle & Thorson, 2001; Fortin & Dholakia, 2005; Stewart & Pavlou, 2002). When a user has higher level of interaction in a social networking community, he or she will be more inclined to recommend the brand community, because of the benefit from engagement (Woisetschläger et al., Majeed et al., Cogent Business & Management (2021), 8: 1944008 https://doi.org/10.1080/23311975.2021.1944008 Page 5 of 19 2008). Ayeh et al. (2013) enumerated common interest, value, and passion as the basis for consumer interaction. Cheng and Guo (2015) stated that posts of remark or praise, would entice more replies. Hence, number of replies might be viewed as mark of personal achievement (Dolan, 2016). In Dessaert (2017), people’s interest in interacting online was the main factor influencing social media engagement. Therefore, it hypothesized that H 2 : Social interaction has a significant positive relationship with brand equity. 2.6.4. Remunerative and brand equity The level of remuneration offered to the consumer via social media content has been studied as a driver of consumer decisions to contribute to online communities (Muntinga et al., 2011). Consumers engage in social media use as they expect to gain some kind of reward such as an economic incentive, job-related benefit or personal wants (Muntinga et al., 2011). Social media content that offers a reward or remuneration includes monetary incentives, giveaways, prize drawings or monetary compensations (Füller, 2006). This type of content is anticipated to gratify users’ needs for remuneration and rewards within social media. Scholars have recommended that social media communication that is rewarding may cause lower levels of engagement, compared to informative content (Cvijikj & Michahelles, 2013; Dolan et al., 2016). In contrast, Cvijikj & Michahelles (2013) opined that social media content that is remunerative is a significant predictor of commenting behaviour of users. From the above description, it is hypothesized that H 3 : Remuneration has a significant positive relationship with brand equity. 2.6.5. Information sharing and brand equity Use for information is the third “consumer motivations” for using social media that were identified by a researcher (Nyland & Near, 2007). This dimension describes the information resource use of social media. That is to say, how users can find information they want or need on social media. These uses were compiled and adapted from diverse studies on general internet uses and social network uses (Shao, 2009; Nyland & Near, 2007; Ruggiero, 2000; Recchiuti, 2003). Further, achieving numerous forms of information has been recommended as the most significant motive consumers use the internet (Maddox, 1998) and levels of information and attitude to the website have been found to be positively related (Chen et al., 2002). Whilst the importance of delivering information via advertisements has been recognized for traditional media (Rubin, 2002), the role of informational content in the online, social domain has only lately received attention. Probing for and receiving information about a brand is one of the main gratifications of consumer participation in online brand communities (Muntinga et al., 2011; Raacke & Bonds-Raacke, 2008). Hence, the researchers hypothesized that H 4 : Information sharing has a significant positive relationship with brand equity. 2.6.6. Entertainment and brand equity Entertainment is the feeling of being sociable, cheerful, and happy, and referred to the way social media serves as a means for entertaining and escaping pressure (Lee, 2012; Kim, 2004). Lee and Ma (2012) believed the value of media entertainment was attributed to the ability to satisfy users’ needs for escapism, enjoyment, emotional release, and anxiety relief. Ducoffe (1996) found that entertainment directly affects user attitudes towards advertising: A favourable advertising message not only positively affects user attitude towards the advertising but also increases user brand attitude. Users seeing advertising to be sociable show more engagement behaviour and display positive attitudes towards the brand (Mir, 2011; Ünal et al., 2011). Hence, it hypothesized that H 5 : Entertainment has a significant positive relationship with brand equity. 2.7. Brand equity and purchase intention Communications on social media contribute to enhancing customer attitude toward the brand, brand equity and increase WoM (Cambria et al., 2012). Chi Yeh and Yang (2009) showed that Majeed et al., Cogent Business & Management (2021), 8: 1944008 https://doi.org/10.1080/23311975.2021.1944008 Page 6 of 19 perceived brand quality mediates between perceived value and consumer purchase intention. Products that are associated with a famous brand name have influence of consumers viewing the brand as high quality, hence relating value altogether, which impacts on purchase intentions (Chi et al., 2009). In Halim and Hameed (2005), it was observed that consumers’ value perception will affect their purchase intention, indicating that, the higher the value, the higher the purchase decision. In another study, purchase decisions are influenced by brand involvement, brand image, product quality, brand loyalty, product attributes, brand awareness, and product quality (Chen & Change, 2010). Finally, using social media platforms to design, increase post and managing different sites to engage customers leads to increase awareness, product interest and likely influence purchase intention (Batra & Keller, 2016) Figure 1 and 2. From the discussions above it is hypothesized that H 6 : Brand equity has a significant positive relationship on purchase intention. 2.8. Social media, brand equity and purchase intention Ashley and Tuten (2015) said branded social campaigns offer more touchpoints to influence ongoing communication between the brand story and consumers during the day which can increase brand relationship, persuade online customers to engage on social media content and assists managers to uncover common themes within customers’ feedback. Both UGC and FCC via social media have positive relationship with behaviour intentions. For instance, several researchers have found social media communication to be a positive influencer of consumer purchase intentions (Aaker. 1991, ; Goodrich, 2011; Keller & Lehmann, 2003; Martin et al., 2003; Shivinski & Dabrowski, 2013, 2015, 2016; Yoo et al., 2001). Khadim, Zafar, Younis and Nadeem (2014) Figure 1. Conceptual model of the study. Figure 2. The structural model of the study. Majeed et al., Cogent Business & Management (2021), 8: 1944008 https://doi.org/10.1080/23311975.2021.1944008 Page 7 of 19 equity. Whereas many of the previous research examined these constructs as single indications, this study compared all the gratification component and brand equity on the intention to buy. The study made use of six assumptions by way of hypotheses. Out of the five antecedence of the uses and gratification model (social media), only three have positive and significant effects on brand equity. The study findings revealed that surveillance has a significant and positive effect on brand equity (β¼0:116;p<0:05) supported H 1 . This finding is in line with the works of Majeed et al. (2020), who found a positive and significant association between surveillance and customer engagement with the brand. Also, the relationship between social interaction and brand equity is negatively and insignificantly (β¼  0:072;p>0:05), hence, rejected H 2 . However, Abu-Rumman and Alhadid (2014) found positive effect of social media social interaction on brand value in an empirical research on mobile service providers in Jordan Information sharing has a significant positive effect on brand equity (β¼0:269;p<0:05), which supported H 3 . Tresna and Wijaya’s (2015) study conforms with the current study, since they also found conversation and information sharing to have both positive and significant relationship with brand equity in an organization in the retail industry. The relationship between remuneration and brand equity is significantly positive (β¼0:304;p<0:05) and hence supported H4. This study is Table 4. Hypotheses test Hypotheses path Beta t Values p Value Decision H1 SV → BQ 0.116* 2.530 0.011 Accepted H2 SI → BQ −0.072 −1.550 0.121 Rejected H3 IFO → BQ 0.269*** 4.340 0.000 Accepted H4 REM → BQ 0.304*** 8.680 0.000 Accepted H5 ENT → BQ −0.054 −1.140 0.254 Rejected H6 BQ → PI 0.165*** 11.620 0.000 Accepted Indirect paths SV → BQ → PI 0.844 5.582 0.000 SI → BQ → PI −0.035 −0.057 0.265 H7 IFO → BQ → PI 0.939 12.620 0.010 REM → BQ → PI 0.031 11.110 0.001 ENT → BQ → PI −0.021 −0.211 0.060 Note: Social media surveillance = SV; Social interaction = SI; Information Sharing = IFO; Remuneration = REM; Entertainment = ENT; Brand Equity = BQ; Purchase Intention = PI; ***P < 0.01, **P < 0.05, *P < 0.10 Table 5. Measurement and structural model GOF Measured Level Structural Accepted Value References RMSEA 0.001 0.042 <0.10 Bentler (1990) CFI 0.942 0.942 >0.90 Byme (2010) GFI 0.955 0.954 >0.90 Hu & Bentler (1999) NFI 0.960 0.958 >0.90 Hu & Bentler (1999) RFI 0.952 0.952 TLI 0.972 0.982 >0.90 Bentler (1990)  2 /df 2 3 >0.05 Schumaker & Lomax (2001) Majeed et al., Cogent Business & Management (2021), 8: 1944008 https://doi.org/10.1080/23311975.2021.1944008 Page 14 of 19 contrary to Cvijikj & Michahelles (2013), who found that remuneration has positive but insignificant relationship with contribution to buyer intentions. Social media entertainment (β¼  0:054;p<0:05) has an insignificant negative effect on brand equity rejected H 5 . This is contrary to the study of Angela, Kim and Ko (2014), who found that social media marketing activities such as entertainment and social interaction and brand equity are positive and significant. Finally, the relationship between brand equity and purchase intention is statistically positive and significant to (β¼0:1652;p<0:05) confirmed H 6 . This study is in line with Halim and Hameed (2005), who observed that consumers value perception will affect their purchase intention, indicating that, the higher the value, the higher the purchase decision. In another research, brand involvement, brand identity, product quality, brand loyalty, product attributes, brand recognition, and product quality influence purchasing decisions (Chen & Alter, 2010). In social media, advertising appeal leads to positive brand association, which eventually leads to favourable behaviour intention (Adetunji et al., 2018). Abu-Rumman and Alhadid (2014) and Godey et al. (2016) found a significant relationship between social media entertainment and social interaction on brand equity and buyer purchase intention. This the reverse case for this study, where both social media entertainment and social interaction have negative and insignificant relationship with brand equity and buyer purchase intention. Overall, not all the components of social media communication lead to brand equity but brand equity definitely leads to customer purchase intention. 4.7. Conclusion In this quantitative survey study, the researcher investigated the effect of social media on buyer purchase intention through brand equity to participate in social media activity at the different levels of social media participation for users. The current research established hypotheses from Katz (1959) based on the “UGT” and TRB. In the present study, too, the theory has helped explain the role of social media marketing strategies and tendency to online interaction as motivators for user engagement on social media with brand-related content. Building on the results of numerous studies based on the UGT system, the present study found a significant and positive impact of social media marketing strategies and tendency to online interaction on social media engagement of users. As a result, a strong emphasis on how businesses connect their customers online produces positive or negative interactions that further affect their brand equity. Domestic brands must also express their principles clearly to consumers in order to achieve a fair return on their investment. Given that it has never been easier to meet the target audiences at lower cost levels, domestic marketers need to participate in social media contact and embrace it as part of their marketing strategy. This can be done by tailoring digital promotion activities to match and meet the heart of their target audience, to which they can express their beliefs in order to boost sales and move up the marketing funnel. The attitude towards buying by customers can never be overlooked. Whether positive or negative, it impacts their intention to buy. The results showed that remuneration-to-brand equity was the best of all. 5. Implication for management The findings of this research underscore the degree to which the social media behavior outcome indicators contribute to brand equity. In addition, the findings show that companies need to target related social media network activity outcomes and then build tailored strategies that can increase brand equity. Results can help companies realize that Instagram’s social media activity outcomes favor their brands more and can be used more efficiently in managing social media by considering the essence and direction of the influence of different social media network activity outcomes. Social networking is an essential source of knowledge that affects customer decision-making. Companies can use social media and other online applications to provide customers with up-todate, appropriate and fresh information. Management of social media marketing would promote the brand community on which consumers rely as a significant source of knowledge in decisionmaking. In the end, this motivational system would establish the engagement between users. Majeed et al., Cogent Business & Management (2021), 8: 1944008 https://doi.org/10.1080/23311975.2021.1944008 Page 15 of 19 6. Theoretical and managerial implications A number of research in the previous literature validating the five dimensions of social media have accepted the used scale of measures of SMC behaviors enshrined in usage and gratification theory. The holistic effect of these dimensions determines the behaviors that inspire people to use social media. From a customer point of view, consumers engage on-line sites to access personalized resources and to receive the latest knowledge when sharing their insights and other tips. Second, SMC enhances brand equity, whilst the five established attributes of SMC are amongst the drivers of brand equity in the online context (Srinivasan et al., 2002). Our results offer hands-on insights to practitioners. First, the greatest vital luxury fashion marketing strategy is to ensure that social media offer information and learning opportunities to customers. The study underscores the importance of providing up-to-date and pertinent information about the brand and its products in social media activities (SMA) to satisfy customer needs. Social media activities should be judiciously planned to provide mental and knowledge experiences, social communications, and personal integrative assistances that is likely to improve social status and reputation. By positioning SMA activities with visuals, thoughts, bodily experiences, problem-solving, and inquisitiveness, managers could rely on them by building and maintaining strong brand-consumer associations in social media environments (Brakus et al., 2009; MorganThomas & Veloutsou, 2013). 7. Limitations and future studies The first weakness was that, the researcher used relatively, a small number of items to calculate each of the structural model constructs discussed in this article. When replicating this study, researchers should consider the inclusion of objects in the measuring model. A potential investigator may consider conducting a mixed-method study to collect information-rich data through interviews whilst checking the meaning of variables through quantitative analysis. Finally, this study used a Ghanaian sample, making it impossible to generalize the findings to other countries. The majority of social media users in Ghana are still young people; thus, when replicating this research, one should take into consideration social, economic and cultural differences. A stronger confirmation and generalization of the results should be performed in different countries in future research in this area. Section B: Questionnaire SOCIAL MEDIA Surveillance (SV) I receive good information on brand X producers Brand X producers keep me-up-to date with latest information. Brand X producers offer customized information search. Knowledge on the latest promotional information is always available Brand X producers help me to learn about valuable products. Social Interaction (SI) Brand X producers give me opportunity to know other customers. Producers reply to customer posted feedback/inquiries. Producers use social media to allow me to interact easily with other customers. Preferred brand social media allow me to share my opinion with others about products. Majeed et al., Cogent Business & Management (2021), 8: 1944008 https://doi.org/10.1080/23311975.2021.1944008 Page 16 of 19 I use brand X producers Social media platform to easily connect to friends/others. Information Sharing (IS) I can easily share information with others via Brand X makers Social media page. Provided latest Brand X promotional information. I always get quick access to information on the brand X phone. Remuneration (RM) Brand X makers Social media page content is useful. Social media offers me economic incentive (monetary incentives, giveaways) Social media offer me prize drawings Social media offer me job-related benefit Social media offer me personal wants Entertainment (ENT) To pass time when I am bored To entertain my self Because is a habit just something to do To occupy my free time BRAND EQUITY I can easily recognize this brand amongst other competing brands. I trust the company who make this particular brand. This brand would be my first choice. In comparison to alternative brands, the likely quality of this brand is extremely high. BRAND PURCHASE INTENTION I would buy this product/brand rather than any other brands available I am willing to recommend that brand to others to buy I intend to purchase this product/brand in the future No matter what I will buy this brand This brand attracts my attention quickly This quickly comes to mind when I have to make purchase Majeed et al., Cogent Business & Management (2021), 8: 1944008 https://doi.org/10.1080/23311975.2021.1944008 Page 17 of 19 Funding The authors received no direct funding for this research. Author details Mohammed Majeed 1 E-mail: [email protected] ORCID ID: http://orcid.org/0000-0001-9804-5335 Martin Owusu-Ansah 2 ORCID ID: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-5005-5670 Adu-Ansere Ashmond 3 1 Department of Marketing, Tamale Technical University, Tamale. 2 Department of Marketing and Corporate Strategy, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Private Mail Bag, KNUST-Kumasi. 3 Department of Management Studies Education, Akenten Appiah-Menka University of Skills Training and Entrepreneural Development, 1277, Kumasi. Citation information Cite this article as: The influence of social media on purchase intention: The mediating role of brand equity, Mohammed Majeed, Martin Owusu-Ansah & Adu-Ansere Ashmond, Cogent Business & Management (2021), 8: 1944008. References Aaker, D. A. (1991). Managing Brand Equity; The Free Press: New York, NY, USA. Adetunji, R. R., Rashid, S. M., & Ishak, M. S. (2018). Consumer-based brand equity (CBBE) and the role of social media communications: Qualitative findings from the Malaysian automotive industry. Journal of Marketing Communications, 34(1), 1–19. Agnihotri, R., Dingus, R., Hu, M. Y., & Krush, M. T. (2016). Social Media: Influencing customer satisfaction in B2B sales. Industrial Marketing Management, 53(1), 172–180. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.indmarman.2015. 09.003 Alhabash, S., & Ma, M. (2017). A tale of four platforms: Motivations and uses of Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Snapchat among college students? Social Media+ Society, 3(1), 205630511769154. https://doi.org/10:1177/2056305117691544 Al-Jabri, I. M., Sohail, M. S., & Ndubisi, N. O. (2015). Understanding the usage of global networking sites by Arabs through the lens of uses and gratifications theory. Journal of Service Management, 26(4), 662– 720. https://doi.org/10.1108/JOSM-01-2015–0037 Arker, D. A. (1991). Managing Brand Equity. Free press, NY Asemah, E. S. (2011). Selected mass media themes. Jos University Press. Bryman, A. (2017). Quantitative and qualitative research: Further reflections on their integration. In In Mixing methods: Qualitative and quantitative research (pp. 57–78). Routledge. Colicev, A., Malshe, A., & Pauwels, K. (2018). Social Media and Customer-Based Brand Equity: An Empirical Investigation in Retail Industry. Administrative Sciences, 8(55), 55. https://doi.org/10.3390/ admsci8030055 Couto, M., & Ferreira, J. (2017). Brand management as an internationalization strategy for SME: A multiple case study. Journal of Global Marketing, 301, 192–206. https://doi.org/10.1080/08911762.2017.1307477 Dessaert, L. (2017). Social media engagement: A model of antecedents and relational outcomes. Journal of Marketing Management, 33(5/6), 375–399. Dudovskiy, J. (2018). The Ultimate Guide to Writing a Dissertation in Business Studies: A Step-by-Step Assistance. Edwards, P. K., O’Mahoney, J., & Vincent, S. (2014). Studying Organizations Using Critical Realism: A Practical Guide (17): Oxford University Press. Ekinci, Y. (2015). Designing Research Questionnaires. Sage. Ercis, A., Ünal, S., Candan, F. B., & Yıldırım, H.. (2012). The Effect of Brand Satisfaction, Trust and Brand Commitment on Loyalty and Repurchase Intentions. Procedia-Social and Behavioural Sciences, 58, 1395–1404. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sbspro.2012.09. 1124 Ershad, Z. S., & Aghajani, T. (2017). Prediction of Instagram social network addiction based on the personality, alexithymia and attachment styles. Sociological Studies of Youth, 8(26), 21–34. Esch, F. R., Tobias, L., Schmitt, B. H., & Geus, P. (2006). Are Brands Forever? How Brand Knowledge and Relationships Affect Current and Future Purchases. Journal of Product and Brand Management, 15(2), 98–105. https://doi.org/10.1108/ 10610420610658938 Ethridge, D. E. (2004). Research Methodology in Applied Economics. John Wiley & Sons, 24 Khan, M. L. (2017). Social media engagement. What Motivates User Participation and Consumption on YouTube? Computers in Human Behaviour, 66, 236– 247. Kircaburun, K., Alhabash, S., Tosuntaş, Ş. B., & Griffith, M. D. (2018). Uses and Gratifications of Problematic Social Media Use Among University Students: A Simultaneous Examination of the Big Five of Personality Traits, Social Media Platforms, and Social Media Use Motives. International Journal of Mental Health Addiction. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11469018-9940–6 Martins, J., Costa, C., Oliveira, T., Gonçalves, R., & Branco, F. (2019). How smartphone advertising influences consumers© ‘ purchase intention. Journal of Business Research, 94, 378–387. https://doi.org/10. 1016/j.jbusres.2017.12.047 Monette, D. R., Sullivan, T. J., & DeJong, C. R. (2005). Applied Social Research: A Tool for the Human Services (6th ed.). Papoola, M. (2014). New Media Usage for Communication and Self Concept among Journalism and Mass Communication Students inOyo State, Nigeria. New Media and Mass Communication, 26, 22–34. Sasmita, J., & Suki, N. (2015). Young consumers’ insights on brand equity: Effects of brand association, brand loyalty, brand awareness, and brand image. International Journal of Retail & Distribution Management, 43(3), 276. https://doi.org/10.1108/ IJRDM-02-2014–0024 Saunders, M. N. K., Lewis, P., & Thornhill, A. (2016). Research Methods for Business Students (6th ed.). Pearson Education Limited. Sheldon, P., & Bryant, K. (2016). Instagram: Motives for its use and relationship to narcissism and contextual age. Computers in Human Behavior, 58, 89–97. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2015.12.059 Whiting, A., & Williams, D. (2013). Why people use social media: A uses and gratifications approach. Qualitative Market Research. An International Journal, 16(4), 362–369. Yin, R. K. (2018). Case Study Research and Applications (5th Ed). Sage. Majeed et al., Cogent Business & Management (2021), 8: 1944008 https://doi.org/10.1080/23311975.2021.1944008 Page 18 of 19 © 2021 The Author(s). This open access article is distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY) 4.0 license. You are free to: Share — copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format. Adapt — remix, transform, and build upon the material for any purpose, even commercially. The licensor cannot revoke these freedoms as long as you follow the license terms. Under the following terms: Attribution — You must give appropriate credit, provide a link to the license, and indicate if changes were made. You may do so in any reasonable manner, but not in any way that suggests the licensor endorses you or your use. No additional restrictions You may not apply legal terms or technological measures that legally restrict others from doing anything the license permits. Cogent Business & Management (ISSN: 2331-1975) is published by Cogent OA, part of Taylor & Francis Group. Publishing with Cogent OA ensures: • Immediate, universal access to your article on publication • High visibility and discoverability via the Cogent OA website as well as Taylor & Francis Online • Download and citation statistics for your article • Rapid online publication • Input from, and dialog with, expert editors and editorial boards • Retention of full copyright of your article • Guaranteed legacy preservation of your article • Discounts and waivers for authors in developing regions Submit your manuscript to a Cogent OA journal at www.CogentOA.com Majeed et al., Cogent Business & Management (2021), 8: 1944008 https://doi.org/10.1080/23311975.2021.1944008 Page 19 of 19