Examining the Status of Social Marketing and Its Impact on Customer Purchasing Behavior Considering the Mediating Role of Customer Trust

Abstract

Objective: This study aims to examine the status of social marketing and its impact on customer purchasing behavior, with a focus on the mediating role of customer trust.Methodology: The research method is applied in terms of purpose and exploratory in nature, using quantitative data collection through a standardized questionnaire. The statistical population includes all customers of the Arian Kimia Tak cosmetics company. A sample of 100 respondents was selected using a simple random sampling method, based on the rule of thumb. Data was collected using an 8-item social marketing questionnaire by Mignan et al. (2005), a 5-item customer purchasing behavior questionnaire by Wu and Wang (2011), and a 6-item customer trust questionnaire by Sheikhzadeh and Hajilou (2016).Findings: The impact of social marketing on customer trust was 11.99, and the impact of customer trust on online purchase intention was 9.92, both values exceeding 0.05. Additionally, other conditions of the structural equation model were met, indicating that customer trust influences the effect of social marketing on customer purchasing behavior. The results of the Sobel test showed that the t-statistic for the indirect effect of social marketing on customer purchasing behavior through customer trust was 7.5, confirming the mediating role of customer trust in the impact of social marketing on customer purchasing behavior.Conclusion: Social marketing (advertising) is effective in strengthening sustainable relationships with consumers. Given that social marketing prioritizes customer focus, cosmetics companies can gain insights into customer wants and needs by effectively leveraging social marketing and thus provide services aligned with customer demands.