How UGC Affects Samsung Smartphone Purchase Intention Online and Offline?

Abstract

This study investigates the influence of User-Generated Content (UGC) on purchase intention for Samsung smartphones in DKI Jakarta, incorporating consumer trust and consumer engagement as mediating variables within a comparative online-offline analytical framework. A quantitative survey was administered to 120 respondents (60 online & 60 offline), and data were analyzed using Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) and Multi-Group Analysis (MGA) via SmartPLS 4. The results demonstrate that UGC exerts a positive and statistically significant influence on purchase intention, consumer trust, and consumer engagement in both groups. Consumer trust did not have a significant direct effect on purchase intention and did not function as a significant mediator, whereas consumer engagement significantly influenced purchase intention and served as a partial mediator in the UGC-purchase intention relationship. MGA revealed no statistically significant differences in path coefficients between the online and offline groups, indicating that the UGC mechanism operates comparably across both channels; nonetheless, the offline group showed numerically larger path coefficients and stronger predictive power (R²) than the online group. These findings establish consumer engagement as the primary mechanism through which UGC translates into purchase intention, with a descriptively more pronounced role in the offline purchasing context.