European Journal of Business Science and Technology 2023, 9(1):5-20 | DOI: 10.11118/ejobsat.2023.001

The Mediating Role of Brand Trust in Social Media Marketing Activities and Brand Equity Relationship: Case of Bottled Water Brands in the Market of Bosnia and Herzegovina

Amel Pintol1, Nereida Hadziahmetovic1
1 International Burch University, Ilid¾a, Bosnia and Herzegovina

Given the rapid advance and the growing influence of social media, the need to research this unique phenomenon becomes more apparent and urgent. This research examines the influence of social media marketing activities (SMMA) on Brand Equity, in the case of bottled water brands. Additionally, it offers a research model that investigates both direct and indirect effects of SMMA on Brand Equity, where Brand Trust is used as a mediator. A quantitative method was used to investigate the most popular domestic and foreign brands of bottled water in Bosnia and Herzegovina, with all 518 respondents being both bottled water consumers and social media users. Furthermore, exploratory factor analysis and confirmatory factor analysis were performed to assess the reliability of the scales, while structural equation modeling was used to estimate the proposed hypotheses of the research. The obtained measurement results revealed that SMMA have a direct impact on Brand Trust and Brand Equity, keeping in mind that Brand Trust mediates the link between SMMA and Brand Equity. Therefore, the aims of the study are threefold: to increase the knowledge about social media, to shed more light on the relationship between SMMA, Brand Trust, and Brand Equity, as well as to help organizations recognize the benefits of using and investing in social media. Due to the fact that this research was conducted on brands in Bosnia and Herzegovina, research in another country can yield different results, given a different culture, mentality, and general educational and material status.

Keywords: social media marketing activities (SMMA), brand trust, brand equity, structural equation modeling
JEL classification: M3

Received: April 22, 2022; Revised: August 3, 2022; Accepted: January 3, 2023; Published: June 30, 2023  Show citation

ACS AIP APA ASA Harvard Chicago IEEE ISO690 MLA NLM Turabian Vancouver
Pintol, A., & Hadziahmetovic, N. (2023). The Mediating Role of Brand Trust in Social Media Marketing Activities and Brand Equity Relationship: Case of Bottled Water Brands in the Market of Bosnia and Herzegovina. European Journal of Business Science and Technology, 9(1), 5-20. doi: 10.11118/ejobsat.2023.001
Share...
Download citation
  • BibTeX (.bib)
  • Bookends (.ris)
  • EasyBib (.ris)
  • EndNote (.enw)
  • EndNote 8 (.xml)
  • ISI WoS (.isi)
  • Medlars (.medlars)
  • Mendeley (.ris)
  • MODS (.xml)
  • Papers (.ris)
  • RefWorks (.txt)
  • RefManager (.ris)
  • RIS (.ris)
  • MS Word (.xml)
  • Zotero (.ris)
    • Open full article

    References

    1. Aaker, D. A. 1991. Managing Brand Equity: Capitalizing on the Value of a Brand Name. New York: The Free Press.
    2. Ajina, A. S. 2019. The Perceived Value of Social Media Marketing: An Empirical Study of Online Word-of-Mouth in Saudi Arabian Context. Entrepreneurship and Sustainability Issues, 6 (3), 1512-1527. DOI: 10.9770/jesi.2019.6.3(32). Go to original source...
    3. Appel, G., Grewal, L., Hadi, R. & Stephen, A. T. 2020. The Future of Social Media in Marketing. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 48, 79-95. DOI: 10.1007/s11747-019-00695-1. Go to original source...
    4. Bagozzi, R. P. & Yi, Y. 1988. On the Evaluation of Structural Equation Models. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 16, 74-94. DOI: 10.1007/BF02723327. Go to original source...
    5. Bentler, P. M. 1990. Comparative Fit Indexes in Structural Models. Psychological Bulletin, 107 (2), 238-246. DOI: 10.1037/0033-2909.107.2.238. Go to original source...
    6. Bollen, K. A. 1989. Structural Equations with Latent Variables. John Wiley & Sons. DOI: 10.1002/9781118619179. Go to original source...
    7. Bruhn, M., Schoenmueller, V. & Schäfer, D. B. 2012. Are Social Media Replacing Traditional Media in Terms of Brand Equity Creation? Management Research Review, 35 (9), 770-790. DOI: 10.1108/01409171211255948. Go to original source...
    8. Chaudhuri, A. & Holbrook, M. B. 2001. The Chain of Effects from Brand Trust and Brand Affect to Brand Performance: The Role of Brand Loyalty. Journal of Marketing, 65 (2), 81-93. DOI: 10.1509/jmkg.65.2.81.18255. Go to original source...
    9. Chen, S.-C. & Lin, C.-P. 2019. Understanding the Effect of Social Media Marketing Activities: The Mediation of Social Identification, Perceived Value, and Satisfaction. Technological Forecasting and Social Change, 140, 22-32. DOI: 10.1016/j.techfore.2018.11.025. Go to original source...
    10. Cheung, M. L., Pires, G. D. & Rosenberger, P. J. 2019. Developing a Conceptual Model for Examining Social Media Marketing Effects on Brand Awareness and Brand Image. International Journal of Economics and Business Research, 17 (3), 243-261. DOI: 10.1504/IJEBR.2019.098874. Go to original source...
    11. Chi, H.-H. 2011. Interactive Digital Advertising vs. Virtual Brand Community. Journal of Interactive Advertising, 12 (1), 44-61. DOI: 10.1080/15252019.2011.10722190. Go to original source...
    12. Christodoulides, G. & de Chernatony, L. 2010. Consumer-Based Brand Equity Conceptualisation and Measurement: A Literature Review. International Journal of Market Research, 52 (1), 43-66. DOI: 10.2501/S1470785310201053. Go to original source...
    13. Constine, J. 2016. Facebook Hits 100M Hours Of Video Watched A Day, 1B Users On Groups, 80M On Fb Lite. TechCrunch [online]. Available at: https://social.techcrunch.com/2016/01/27/facebook-grows/.
    14. Dann, S. 2010. Redefining Social Marketing with Contemporary Commercial Marketing Definitions. Journal of Business Research, 63 (2), 147-153. DOI: 10.1016/j.jbusres.2009.02.013. Go to original source...
    15. Doney, P. M. & Cannon, J. P. 1997. An Examination of the Nature of Trust in Buyer-Seller Relationships. Journal of Marketing, 61 (2), 35-51. DOI: 10.2307/1251829. Go to original source...
    16. Dwivedi, Y. K., Ismagilova, E., Hughes, D. L., Carlson, J., Filieri, R., Jacobson, J., Jain, V., Karjaluoto, H., Kefi, H., Krishen, A. S., Kumar, V., Rahman, M. M., Raman, R., Rauschnabel, P. A., Rowley, J., Salo, J., Tran, G. A. & Wang, Y. 2020. Setting the Future of Digital and Social Media Marketing Research: Perspectives and Research Propositions. International Journal of Information Management, 59, 102168. DOI: 10.1016/j.ijinfomgt.2020.102168. Go to original source...
    17. Ebrahim, R. S. 2019. The Role of Trust in Understanding the Impact of Social Media Marketing on Brand Equity and Brand Loyalty. Journal of Relationship Marketing, 19 (4), 287-308. DOI: 10.1080/15332667.2019.1705742. Go to original source...
    18. Felix, R., Rauschnabel, P. A. & Hinsch, C. 2017. Elements of Strategic Social Media Marketing: A Holistic Framework. Journal of Business Research, 70 (C), 118-126. DOI: 10.1016/j.jbusres.2016.05.001. Go to original source...
    19. Fornell, C. & Larcker, D. F. 1981. Evaluating Structural Equation Models with Unobservable Variables and Measurement Error. Journal of Marketing Research, 18 (1), 39-50. DOI: 10.1177/002224378101800104. Go to original source...
    20. Gaskin, J., James, M. & Lim, J. 2019. Master Validity Tool. AMOS Plugin. Gaskination's StatWiki.
    21. Gaskin, J. & Lim, J. 2018. Plugins-Gaskination's StatWiki [online]. Available at: http://statwiki.gaskination.com/index.php?title=Plugins.
    22. Gefen, D., Straub, D. & Boudreau, M.-C. 2000. Structural Equation Modeling and Regression: Guidelines for Research Practice. Communications of the Association for Information Systems, 4 (7). DOI: 10.17705/1CAIS.00407. Go to original source...
    23. Godey, B., Manthiou, A., Pederzoli, D., Rokka, J., Aiello, G., Donvito, R. & Singh, R. 2016. Social Media Marketing Efforts of Luxury Brands: Influence on Brand Equity and Consumer Behavior. Journal of Business Research, 69 (12), 5833-5841. DOI: 10.1016/j.jbusres.2016.04.181. Go to original source...
    24. Hadziahmetovic, N. & Dinc, M. S. 2020. Linking Reward Types to Organizational Performance in Central and Eastern European Universities: The Mediating Role of Affective Commitment. Journal of East European Management Studies, 25 (2), 325-359. DOI: 10.5771/0949-6181-2020-2-325. Go to original source...
    25. Hair, J. F., Anderson, R. E., Tatham, R. L. & Black, W. C. 1998. Multivariate Data Analysis. 5th ed. NJ: Prentice Hall.
    26. Henseler, J., Ringle, C. M. & Sarstedt, M. 2015. A New Criterion for Assessing Discriminant Validity in Variance-Based Structural Equation Modeling. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 43, 115-135. DOI: 10.1007/s11747-014-0403-8. Go to original source...
    27. Hooper, D., Coughlan, J. & Mullen, M. R. 2008. Structural Equation Modelling: Guidelines for Determining Model Fit. Electronic Journal of Business Research Methods, 6 (1), 53-60. DOI: 10.21427/D7CF7R. Go to original source...
    28. Hu, L. & Bentler, P. M. 1999. Cutoff Criteria for Fit Indexes in Covariance Structure Analysis: Conventional Criteria Versus New Alternatives. Structural Equation Modeling: A Multidisciplinary Journal, 6 (1), 1-55. DOI: 10.1080/10705519909540118. Go to original source...
    29. Innovation Barometer. 2021. Part 5: How to Adapt the Questionnaire [online]. Available at: https://www.innovationbarometer.org/copenhagen-manual/read-online/part-5-how-to-adapt-the-innovation-barometer-questionnaire/.
    30. Irshad, M., Ahmad, M. S. & Malik, O. F. 2020. Understanding Consumers' Trust in Social Media Marketing Environment. International Journal of Retail & Distribution Management, 48 (11), 1195-1212. DOI: 10.1108/IJRDM-07-2019-0225. Go to original source...
    31. Jöreskog, K. G. & Sörbom, D. 1989. LISREL 7: A Guide to the Program and Applications. Chicago, IL: SPSS.
    32. Jung, S. T. 1994. Marketing Management. Bombunasa, Seoul.
    33. Kavota, J. K., Kamdjoug, J. R. K. & Wamba, S. F. 2020. Social Media and Disaster Management: Case of the North and South Kivu Regions in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. International Journal of Information Management, 52, 102068. DOI: 10.1016/j.ijinfomgt.2020.102068. Go to original source...
    34. Keller, K. L. 1993. Conceptualizing, Measuring, and Managing Customer-Based Brand Equity. Journal of Marketing, 57 (1), 1-22. DOI: 10.1177/002224299305700101. Go to original source...
    35. Khong, K. W., Onyemeh, N. C. & Chong, A. Y.-L. 2013. BSEM Estimation of Network Effect and Customer Orientation Empowerment on Trust in Social Media and Network Environment. Expert Systems with Applications, 40 (12), 4858-4870. DOI: 10.1016/j.eswa.2013.02.020. Go to original source...
    36. Kim, A. J. & Ko, E. 2010. Impacts of Luxury Fashion Brand's Social Media Marketing on Customer Relationship and Purchase Intention. Journal of Global Fashion Marketing, 1 (3), 164-171. DOI: 10.1080/20932685.2010.10593068. Go to original source...
    37. Kim, A. J. & Ko, E. 2012. Do Social Media Marketing Activities Enhance Customer Equity? An Empirical Study of Luxury Fashion Brand. Journal of Business Research, 65 (10), 1480-1486. DOI: 10.1016/j.jbusres.2011.10.014. Go to original source...
    38. Kim, J.-H. & Hyun, Y. J. 2011. A Model to Investigate the Influence of Marketing-Mix Efforts and Corporate Image on Brand Equity in the IT Software Sector. Industrial Marketing Management, 40 (3), 424-438. DOI: 10.1016/j.indmarman.2010.06.024. Go to original source...
    39. Kim, S. & Park, H. 2013. Effects of Various Characteristics of Social Commerce (S-Commerce) on Consumers' Trust and Trust Performance. International Journal of Information Management, 33 (2), 318-332. DOI: 10.1016/j.ijinfomgt.2012.11.006. Go to original source...
    40. Koay, K. Y., Ong, D. L. T., Khoo, K. L. & Yeoh, H. J. 2020. Perceived Social Media Marketing Activities and Consumer-Based Brand Equity: Testing a Moderated Mediation Model. Asia Pacific Journal of Marketing and Logistics, 33 (1), 53-72. DOI: 10.1108/APJML-07-2019-0453. Go to original source...
    41. KomoraBiH. 2021. Vanjskotrgovinska razmjena bezalkoholnih piæa i voda [online]. Available at: https://www.komorabih.ba/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Bezalkoholna-pica-i-vode.pdf.
    42. Kusumasondjaja, S. 2018. The Roles of Message Appeals and Orientation on Social Media Brand Communication Effectiveness: An Evidence from Indonesia. Asia Pacific Journal of Marketing and Logistics, 30 (4), 1135-1158. DOI: 10.1108/APJML-10-2017-0267. Go to original source...
    43. Lindell, M. K. & Whitney, D. J. 2001. Accounting for Common Method Variance in Cross-Sectional Research Designs. Journal of Applied Psychology, 86 (1), 114-121. DOI: 10.1037/0021-9010.86.1.114. Go to original source...
    44. Lister, M. 2017. 40 Essential Social Media Marketing Statistics for 2018 [online]. Available at: https://www.wordstream.com/blog/ws/2017/01/05/social-media-marketing-statistics.
    45. Nunnally, J. C. 1978. An Overview of Psychological Measurement. In Wolman, B. B. (ed.). Clinical Diagnosis of Mental Disorders: A Handbook, pp. 97-146. DOI: 10.1007/978-1-4684-2490-4_4. Go to original source...
    46. Parveen, F., Jaafar, N. I. & Ainin, S. 2015. Social Media Usage and Organizational Performance: Reflections of Malaysian Social Media Managers. Telematics and Informatics, 32 (1), 67-78. DOI: 10.1016/j.tele.2014.03.001. Go to original source...
    47. Pham, P. & Gammoh, B. S. 2015. Characteristics of Social-Media Marketing Strategy and Customer-Based Brand Equity Outcomes: A Conceptual Model. In Kim, K. (ed.). Celebrating America's Pastimes: Baseball, Hot Dogs, Apple Pie and Marketing? Developments in Marketing Science: Proceedings of the Academy of Marketing Science, pp. 433-434. DOI: 10.1007/978-3-319-26647-3_87. Go to original source...
    48. Phan, M., Thomas, R. & Heine, K. 2011. Social Media and Luxury Brand Management: The Case of Burberry. Journal of Global Fashion Marketing, 2 (4), 213-222. DOI: 10.1080/20932685.2011.10593099. Go to original source...
    49. Prasetyo, M., Nadhila, V. & Sanny, L. 2020. Effect of Social Media Marketing on Instagram Towards Purchase Intention: Evidence from Indonesia's Ready-to-Drink Tea Industry. International Journal of Data and Network Science, 4 (2), 91-104. DOI: 10.5267/j.ijdns.2020.3.002. Go to original source...
    50. Richter, A. & Koch, M. 2007. Social Software - Status Quo und Zukunft. Technischer Bericht, Nr.-01, Fakultatfür Informatik. Universitat der BundeswehrMünchen, Sweden.
    51. Rossiter, J. R. & Percy, L. 1987. Advertising and Promotion Management. McGraw-Hill Book Company.
    52. Sano, K. 2014. Do Social Media Marketing Activities Enhance Customer Satisfaction, Promote Positive WOM and Affect Behavior Intention?: An Investigation into the Effects of Social Media on the Tourism Industry. 同志社商学 (The Doshisha Business Review), 66 (3-4), 491-515. DOI: 10.14988/pa.2017.0000013844. Go to original source...
    53. Seo, E.-J. & Park, J.-W. 2018. A Study on the Effects of Social Media Marketing Activities on Brand Equity and Customer Response in the Airline Industry. Journal of Air Transport Management, 66, 36-41. DOI: 10.1016/j.jairtraman.2017.09.014. Go to original source...
    54. Sohail, M. S., Hasan, M. & Sohail, A. F. 2020. The Impact of Social Media Marketing on Brand Trust and Brand Loyalty: An Arab Perspective. International Journal of Online Marketing (IJOM), 10 (1), 15-31. DOI: 10.4018/IJOM.2020010102. Go to original source...
    55. Srivastava, R. K. & Shocker, A. D. 1991. Brand Equity: A Perspective on its Meaning and Measurement. MSI Report 91-124. Cambridge, MA: Marketing Science Institute.
    56. Statista. 2020. Internet Users in the World 2020 [online]. Available at: https://www.statista.com/statistics/617136/digital-population-worldwide/.
    57. Steenkamp, M. & Hyde-Clarke, N. 2014. The Use of Facebook for Political Commentary in South Africa. Telematics and Informatics, 31 (1), 91-97. DOI: 10.1016/j.tele.2012.10.002. Go to original source...
    58. Tatar, ª. B. & Eren-Erdoğmuº, İ. 2016. The Effect of Social Media Marketing on Brand Trust and Brand Loyalty for Hotels. Information Technology & Tourism, 16 (3), 249-263. DOI: 10.1007/s40558-015-0048-6. Go to original source...
    59. Tucker, L. R. & Lewis, C. 1973. A Reliability Coefficient for Maximum Likelihood Factor Analysis. Psychometrika, 38, 1-10. DOI: 10.1007/BF02291170. Go to original source...
    60. Vohra, A. & Bhardwaj, N. 2019. From Active Participation to Engagement in Online Communities: Analysing the Mediating Role of Trust and Commitment. Journal of Marketing Communications, 25 (1), 89-114. DOI: 10.1080/13527266.2017.1393768. Go to original source...
    61. Wardati, N. K. & Mahendrawathi, E. R. 2019. The Impact of Social Media Usage on the Sales Process in Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs): A Systematic Literature Review. Procedia Computer Science, 161, 976-983. DOI: 10.1016/j.procs.2019.11.207. Go to original source...
    62. We Are Social. 2019. Digital in 2019: Global Internet Use Accelerates [online]. Available at: https://wearesocial.com/uk/blog/2019/01/digital-in-2019-global-internet-use-accelerates/.
    63. We Are Social. 2021. Digital 2021: The Latest Insights into the 'State of Digital' [online]. Available at: https://wearesocial.com/uk/blog/2021/01/digital-2021-the-latest-insights-into-the-state-of-digital/.
    64. We Are Social. 2022. Digital 2022: Another Year of Bumper Growth [online]. Available at: https://wearesocial.com/uk/blog/2022/01/digital-2022-another-year-of-bumper-growth-2/
    65. Yadav, M. & Rahman, Z. 2017. Measuring Consumer Perception of Social Media Marketing Activities in E-commerce Industry: Scale Development & Validation. Telematics and Informatics, 34 (7), 1294-1307. DOI: 10.1016/j.tele.2017.06.001. Go to original source...
    66. Yadav, M. & Rahman, Z. 2018. The Influence of Social Media Marketing Activities on Customer Loyalty: A Study of E-commerce Industry. Benchmarking: An International Journal, 25 (9), 3882-3905. DOI: 10.1108/BIJ-05-2017-0092. Go to original source...
    67. Zollo, L., Filieri, R., Rialti, R. & Yoon, S. 2020. Unpacking the Relationship between Social Media Marketing and Brand Equity: The Mediating Role of Consumers' Benefits and Experience. Journal of Business Research, 117, 256-267. DOI: 10.1016/j.jbusres.2020.05.001. Go to original source...

    This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License (CC BY-SA 4.0), which permits use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original publication is properly cited. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.


    Return to the content