The Effect of WOM and e-WOM on Brand Trust and Purchase Intention in Luxury Brand Purchase contexts: Compared with Korean and Saudi Arabia

Abstract

The future portends market alteration, increased competition, and a demand for creative and aggressive marketing practices. As traditional word of mouth evolved into a new form as electronic word of mouth, the influence of electronic word of mouth (e-WOM) on customer purchase intention has long been known, and the emergence of social media fads have created a new perspective to e-WOM through enabling users to communicate with their existing online platforms on the internet, users can exchange their opinions and experiences about products or services with others, either people who they already know such as friends or complete strangers. While e-WOM has an impact on customers, and their purchase intentions, researchers are undertaking research to explore WOM and e-WOM impacts on purchase intention. However, few studies have investigated cross cultural and comparative differences between countries according to such type of studies. Therefore, the present study explores the impact of WOM and e-WOM with the mediating effect of brand trust and the moderating effect of brand image of luxury brands of South Korean and Saudi Communities, Brand Trust, Brand image, and Purchase Intention comparing which type of the WOM has the highest impact. In this regard, we proposed a model containing five variables (WOM, e-WOM, Brand Trust, Luxury Brand Image, and Purchase Intention). Some of the key findings include that the relationships between the variables for both groups were positive (WOM, e-WOM, Brand Trust, Luxury Brand Image, Purchase Intention), except the e-WOM -brand trust relationship which was negative for the Korean group and the WOM -brand trust which was negative for the Saudi group.