The role of brand image in mediating firm-created content and user-generated content on purchasing intention (A Study at Masa Masa Restaurant in Bali Province)

The growing use of social media as a marketing communication tool has encouraged culinary businesses to manage digital content effectively to influence consumer behaviour. Restoran Masa Masa is a culture-based restaurant that emphasises cultural values through spatial concepts, cultural artifacts, and a traditional atmosphere, while utilising social media as a marketing communication platform. This study aims to analyzeanalyse the effects of firm-created and user-generated content on purchase intention, with brand image as a mediating variable, at Restoran Masa Masa. This study is grounded in the Stimulus–Organism–Response (S–O–R) theory and employs a quantitative associative research design. The population consists of consumers or potential consumers of Restoran Masa Masa, with 100 respondents selected using a purposive sampling technique. Data were collected via a structured questionnaire and analyzedanalysed using Partial Least Squares–Structural Equation Modelling (PLS-SEM). The results indicate that firm-created content has a positive and significant effect on brand image and purchase intention. User-generated content has a positive and significant effect on purchase intention, but does not significantly affect brand image. In addition, brand image has a positive and significant effect on purchase intention. Mediation analysis reveals that brand image partially mediates the relationship between firm-created content and purchase intention, but does not mediate the relationship between user-generated content and purchase intention.