The Role and Influence of Electronic Word of Mouth (eWOM) on Brand Trust Brand Image, and Purchase Intention on Garutan Batik Products in Indonesia

Abstract

The Covid-19 pandemic has resulted in immediately adaptation of technology uses in the business process, particularly in marketing field. Electronic word of mouth (eWOM) is one of essential and strategic method for Small and Medium Enterprises of Batik Garutan in serving the consumers in digital platform. The purpose of this study is to find out the role and influence of eWOM on brand trust and brand image of Batik Garutan. Besides, this study also analyzes the effect of eWOM towards the purchase intention. The research method used was quantitative approach and involved 4 variables. The data was obtained from 77 users or customers of Batik Garutan products that purchased Batin Garutan in social media platforms such as Instagram, Shopee, and Whatsapp. The data was analyzed using SmartPLS software. The finding of this study revealed that the influence of eWOW on Brand Trust and Brand Image was greatly significant. In addition to, eWOW had significant impacts on the customer’s purchase intention. This indicates that the scale of SMEs is not significantly matter, but the use of technology are strongly required particularly in current globalization era. eWOM is one of the method of SMEs to acquire larger network and to be accepted in global society.