THE ROLE OF BRAND IMAGE IN MEDIATING THE INFLUENCE OF ELECTRONIC WORD OF MOUTH ON PURCHASE INTENTION

The increasingly tight competition demands marketers to always be active in assessing the opportunities to introduce and distribute their product. To win the competition, marketers must always pay attention to the factors that can influence the purchase intention of people, where purchase intention is influenced by eWOM communication and brand image. This research aims to determine the influence of eWOM and brand image on the intention to purchase Toyota Avanza cars, to determine the influence of eWOM on the brand image of Toyota Avanza cars, to determine the influence of eWOM and brand image on the intention to purchase Toyota Avanza cars, and to determine the role of brand image in mediating the influence of eWOM on purchase intention. The population in this research are all the people who are domiciled in Denpasar City that have the intention to purchase a Toyota Avanza car. There are 100 respondents from Denpasar City as the sample of this research. This sample size fulfills the maximum sample size criteria recommended for PLS, which ranges from 30 to 100. The data is analyzed using the PLS (Partial Least Square) method. The research results show that eWOM and brand image has a positive and significant influence on purchase intention, and eWOM has a positive and significant influence on brand image. The results also show that brand image is able to mediate the influence of eWOM on purchase intention