Purpose: This study investigates the impact of Social Media Marketing (SMM) on consumers’ purchase intentions toward Nike products, with brand awareness serving as a mediating variable.
Research Methodology: A quantitative approach with a causal-explanatory and cross-sectional design was employed. Data were collected through a survey of 361 valid respondents who were familiar with Nike products, actively used social media, and had been exposed to Nike SMM activities. A five-point Likert scale questionnaire was used to measure SMM, brand awareness, and purchase intention. The data were analyzed using Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) with SmartPLS.
Results: The results show that SMM has a significant and positive impact on both brand awareness and purchase intention. Brand awareness also positively and significantly influenced purchase intention. Furthermore, the indirect impact of SMM on purchase intention through brand awareness was significant, verifying the mediating role of brand awareness.
Conclusions: The results demonstrate that Nike’s social media marketing can enhance consumers’ purchase intentions both directly and indirectly by strengthening brand awareness. The existence of significant indirect and direct impacts indicates a partial mediation effect.
Limitations: This study is limited by its cross-sectional design, focus on Nike products, and examination of only three constructs.
Contributions: This study enriches the literature on social media marketing, brand awareness, purchase intention, sportswear marketing, and digital consumer behavior by extending the Stimulus-Organism-Response (S-O-R) framework within the context of Nike products.