Transformations  in
Business & Economics

EFFECT OF SOCIAL CURRENCY ASPECTS ON PURCHASE INTENTION OF CUSTOMERS WITH MEDIATING ROLE OF BRAND EQUITY MEASURES
Mohammad Reza Karimi Alavijeh, Akbar Sepahvand, Ahmad Esmaeili, Izolda Joksiene

ABSTRACT. As a part of SNS, the social media has developed rapidly in the cyber world, provoking researchers to study the effects of social media on various dimensions of the societal life. The literature review reveals that social currency and brand equity have been investigated so far, but the effect of these variables on consumers' purchase intention is yet unknown. Therefore, this paper intends to investigate the effect of social currency aspects on purchase intention for consumers with the mediating role of brand equity measures. First, this study aims to provide empirical data on the topic. Second, it provides empirically tested model to analyse the effect of brand equity measures on purchase intention in social communities. To do this, partial least squares approach was utilized to analyse the date obtained from the customers of an internet store in Iran. The results reveal that brand trust and brand loyalty as measures of brand equity are affected by social currency. But the impact of social currency on brand perceived quality is not supported. Our findings can broaden the understanding of researchers and managers in various dimensions of social currency, brand equity, and purchase intention and further the research agenda in the literature.

KEYWORDS: social currency, purchase intention, brand equity, word-of-mouth, social media, structural equations modelling.