Brand image among the purchase decision determinants

The purpose of this research was to measure the effect of word of mouth, perceived price, and service quality toward brand image and purchase decision. This research also aimed to measure the mediating effect of Brand Image toward the relationship between word of mouth, perceive price, and service quality with the purchase decision. This study used a survey technique that utilised questionnaires as research instruments for 200 respondents who have visited Surabaya hotels as well as Partial Least Square (PLS) data analysis techniques. The findings in this research proved that Word of Mouth, Perceived Price, and Service Quality have a significant positive effect on Brand Image and Purchase Decision. This research also revealed that brand image also has an intervening effect in the relationship of Word of Mouth, Perceived Price, and Service Quality with Purchase Decision.


INTRODUCTION
In the development of the current era of globalisation, the increasingly fierce market competition challenges entrepreneurs to continue to improve product quality to produce targeted returns both internally and externally (Fianto, 2020b(Fianto, , 2020a. The condition of business competition, especially in the field of tourism, is developing rapidly in the current global era (Santoso et al., 2019a(Santoso et al., , 2019b(Santoso et al., , 2020. Tourism as a service industry plays an essential role in global economic conditions (Fianto, 2020b;Riyanto et al., 2019). The tourism industry is the primary business sector that plays a role as a foreign exchange earner in Indonesia (Ikawira & Fianto, 2014;Jafar et al., 2014;Pinasti et al., 2015). The tourism industry functions the key to maximising the economy level, provides employment, improves the value of life, and acts as a stimulus for other business sectors such as handicraft, lodging, and transportation (Wondirad, 2019;Wu & Tsai, 2016).
When making purchasing decisions, consumers are positively influenced by different things, one of which is finding information. One of the primary sources is various forms of commercial information (Kashi, 2013;Pant et al., 2018). Every company expects high consumer purchasing decisions on products offered (Jha, 2019;Kumar & Tripathi, 2019). Customers' high purchase decision increases the company profits, whereas low-level product purchases decrease company income. In turn, companies may have difficulty meeting operating costs, so the company must achieve the right sales strategy, including promotion, price, and analysis of consumer attitudes (Udomkit, 2015). Alternative reasons that affect the purchase decision is the perceived price Junyi et al., 2018). Perceived price assesses the cost in terms of the expected benefits from supply consumption (Burguet & Sákovics, 2019;Verma et al., 2019).
In most cases, customers have the opportunity to choose from different offers, so the price will be one of the comparative indicators on which their purchasing decisions are based . Price had been consistently stated as a significant influencing factor in purchasing decisions (Burguet & Sákovics, 2019;Wang et al., 2019). If prices are low, the demand for products increases. Consequently, if product prices are high, demand for products will be lower . When consumers make purchases, prices are always stated as a significant influencing factor (Junyi et al., 2018). Besides the perceived price, brand image can also become a determinant for purchase decisions (Burguet & Sákovics, 2019).
Previous researchers had done continuous research on the effect of satisfaction and service quality on company image with different results (Le et al., 2019;Roma et al., 2020;Vu et al., 2019). Studies also expressed that service quality and customer satisfaction have a straight and positive stimulus on the purchase decision (Fianto, 2020a). The results of other conducted studies also proved that service quality has an optimistic and substantial outcome on the image of air transport services (Roma et al., 2020). Other studies revealed that satisfaction affects the company's image (Fianto, 2020a;Santoso et al., 2019aSantoso et al., , 2019b. In other research, service quality and customer satisfaction are proven to have significantly influenced the company's image. On the other hand, other researches stated that customer satisfaction does not entirely affect the company's image, or loyalty to the company (Fianto, 2020b(Fianto, , 2020aSantoso et al., 2020). It was also evident that the quality of service can wholly improve company image (Le et al., 2019;Roma et al., 2020;Vu et al., 2019).
Marketing is one of the means for companies to achieve their stated goals (Fianto, 2020b(Fianto, , 2020aSantoso et al., 2019aSantoso et al., , 2019bSantoso et al., , 2020. In order to reach these aims, each business must strive to produce and deliver goods or services in accordance with the wishes of consumers by providing pleasant personal service and supporting facilities (Riyanto et al., 2019). One of them is the most effective and efficient way of marketing an item or service through word-of-mouth communication by utilising online media (Jha, 2019).
Word of Mouth (WoM) has an exceptionally persuasive or compelling job in the endurance of a company (Izquierdo & Pérez, 2020). WoM can spread broadly and rapidly, as well as trusted by potential buyers (Yang & Mattila, 2020). The spread of WoM is not exclusive through verbal correspondence; however, it can be spread through existing web social media (Sinha & Verma, 2020). The spread of WoM online via the web is very simple and generally quite productive. One way to spread it is through YouTube, WhatsApp, Line, Google, Facebook, and various applications found on gadgets related to web connections (Izquierdo & Pérez, 2020;Otero et al., 2019;Sinha & Verma, 2020;Xue et al., 2019;Yang & Mattila, 2020). WoM is progressively compelling in advertising exercises because WoM depends on an individual's involvement with expanding an item or administration of a company (Xue et al., 2019). Satisfied or dissatisfied, consumers are very influential on the effect of WoM, both positive and negative, that emerges and affects the organisation (Fianto, 2020b).
Consumer purchasing decisions are not solely influenced by WoM, Service Quality, and Perceived Price. In this study, the purchasing decision was also affected by brand image as an intervening variable (Fianto, 2020b(Fianto, , 2020a. Brand image shows a certain level of product quality so that satisfied buyers can choose products that will be returned quickly (Santoso et al., 2019a(Santoso et al., , 2019b(Santoso et al., , 2020. Meanwhile, buying interest itself is interest, that is, strong internal motivation that stimulates action because this motivation is influenced by incentives and positive feelings about the product (Jha, 2019;Kashi, 2013;Udomkit, 2015).
In shaping brand image, this research evaluated the role of price, quality of service, and word of mouth toward purchase decisions mediated by brand image (Errajaa et al., 2020;Ryu et al., 2019;Song et al., 2019). It was based on different opinions regarding the results of previous studies on the influence of brand image on consumer purchasing decisions (Zameer et al., 2019). Different results were found in previous studies. Therefore, researchers intended to reconsider the influence of brand image on the purchasing decision process (Song et al., 2019). Thus, this research examined the influence of Word of Mouth, Perceived Price, Service Quality, and Brand Image on Purchase Decisions. This study also examined the impact of Brand Image mediation towards the relationship between Word of Mouth, Perceived Price, and Service Quality with Purchase Decision. In line with commercial growth, the business world is also experiencing rapid expansion and progress, which can be proven by the emergence of new companies (Fianto, 2020a(Fianto, , 2020b. They all try to produce goods and services to fulfil the continuously increasing needs and wants of consumers (Santoso et al., 2019a(Santoso et al., , 2019b. One of the goals of starting a company is to maximise profits in order to develop its business and maintain its survival (Ikawira & Fianto, 2014;Jafar et al., 2014;Pinasti et al., 2015). Company profits are realised through production sales (Riyanto et al., 2019). The criteria for sales results can be seen from the number of products or services sold to consumers. Thus, it can be said inferred that the most significant number of products marketed or sold signifies companies' success in carrying out its sales activities (Santoso et al., 2019b(Santoso et al., , 2020. However, it is not easy to achieve such a goal because competition between companies is currently tightened to a very competitive level (Fianto, 2020a). Competition in the market exists if a certain product or service is sold in the market, then in the next stage, sales competitions emerge from other companies (Fianto, 2020b). Increasing business competition makes entrepreneurs compete to market their products using various strategies to maximise sales (Santoso et al., 2019b). In achieving their goals, companies often face obstacles. Barriers faced by companies, in general, are competitions between similar companies (Santoso et al., 2020). Competition among similar companies seems to create a market for buyers, where buyers create a greater force than sales. In such a market, consumers relatively have a significant proportion of deciding what to buy and whom to buy it from (Riyanto et al., 2019).
Perceived Price, Service Quality, and Word of Mouth can attract tourists to visit because it forms a positive and negative image of a tourist attraction. Attractions with a positive image can certainly attract tourists to visit. On the other hand, attractions with a negative image certainly make tourists not interested in visiting. In addition, attractions with a positive image, if accompanied by a strong brand, can certainly attract more tourists to visit. This is because the brand has a value of the advantages of certain attractions compared to other attractions. Therefore, perceived price, service quality and word of mouth simultaneously influence the interest in visiting. Thus, the following hypotheses can be drawn: H8: Price, Service Quality and Word of Mouth have a positive and significant effect on Purchasing Decisions that are mediated by Brand Image.
Based on the theory and results of previous research, the hypothesis in this study can be concluded as follows:

METHODOLOGY
This research was conducted with reference to the research design that has been made based on a ratio data collection system so that the data collected in this study was classified as primary data. The assessment of this study applied a questionnaire instrument that was developed from indicators of research variables. This research was conducted in a period of 6 months from August 2019 to February 2020. The population in this study was tourists who are at the time of research was in Surabaya city. The sample of this research was tourists who were staying in several star hotels. The sampling technique in this study was purposive sampling because this can be applied with samples and populations which have certain characteristics. The data analysis technique in this study applied SEM-PLS. Least Square Party (PLS) is a multivariate statistical technique that can be applied to handle many response and explanatory variables at once (Fianto, 2020b(Fianto, , 2020a. So it is good to have advantages such as data that are generally not distributed multivariate and scale the data with classification, ordinal until the ratio can be applied.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS Measurement Model Evaluations
Questionnaires distributed to respondents in the current research required approximately 200 people with several criteria. The identity carried out in the study of respondents has research subjects that consist of gender, monthly income, and choice of hotel type. It can be seen that in the section "Gender," the number of men and women respondents was different by 38 respondents. The frequency of men respondents was 81 (41%), while the frequency of women was 119 people (60% of the total respondents). So, it can be concluded that the respondents who participated in this research were mostly women.
It can also be seen in the "Monthly Income" section that respondents with an income less than SGD 200 were 41 respondents (21%), while respondents who had an income of between SGD 250 to SGD 500 were 58 respondents, with a percentage of 58%. Respondents with an income of more than SGD 500 were 101 respondents, with a percentage of 51%. So, it can be concluded that the respondents who participated in this study partially earned more than SGD 500.
The "Hotel Types" section showed that respondents stayed at hotels located throughout the City of Surabaya. Respondents who stayed in the category of 3-star hotels were 51 respondents with a percentage of 26%, 4-star hotels with a percentage of 30%, and 5-star hotels as many as 90 people with a percentage of 45%. So, it can be concluded that respondents who participated in this study spent more money to stay in star hotels.
Construction and related indicators needed to be evaluated in terms of the measurement model being carried out. There are several stages of evaluations carried out in this research, namely evaluating convergent validity and criminal validity. To evaluate indicators of validity, contract reliability and Average Variance Extracted (AVE) were examined, and convergent validity was required. Meanwhile, indicator variables can be seen through the factor loading value, and the statistical value with the loading factor standard must be more than 0.5 with the statistical value is more than 2.0 to be declared as a valid measurement. The results showed that the indicators listed in Table 2 could be declared valid because they can meet all the required requirements. The output made by the researchers can be seen in Table 2.  Table 2 shows the factor value in each indicator used to measure variables that are more than 0.5, and the results of significant test analysis of factors with t-statistics. The results shown in Table 2 concluded to have good validity because of the analysis of the correlation between indicators and their constructs. Table 2 shows that factor analysis has t-value above or more than 2.0. So, the results held in all indicators in this study can be said to have significant validity. Subsequent measurements were made of the reliability of the convergence reliability using Cronbach's Alpha. Proper reliability has combined reliability of more than 0.7 and AVE with a value of more than 0.5. In Table 3 it can be seen that the test results from AVE and the reliability of composites that can show construction in this study can be said to be reliable because the results have a composite value of more than 0.7 and an AVE value of more than 0.5. Evaluation of the research model with discriminant validity was carried out in two stages, namely by measuring the cross-loading value and by comparing the square of the correlation with the construct having the AVE value with the AVE root. Criteria in cross-loading can be emphasised on each indicator that measures the contract must have a higher correlation than the contract itself compared to the other contracts. The cross-loading output values can be shown in the following Table 4. Table 4 shows that the Cross-Loading results have a higher relationship with each construct compared to other constructs. So, it can be concluded from the data held that the indicators in this study have relative value discriminant validity as well. Then proceed with the comparative test between correlation with existing AVE construct in Table  5. Table 5 shows that the value of the maximum correlation Brand Image has a variable value of 0.6750 with a root value of AVE of 0.8216, which is higher compared to the maximum correlation value. The maximum correlation value of the other variables in this study also has an AVE greater value for each correlation. Thus, it can be concluded that this study has a pretty good determination variable. For the next stage, this research has also fulfilled the measurement model so that structural model testing can be done. This test is carried out to evaluate the significance of the relationship between the path and the value of R2. Structural evaluation results can be seen in the Path coefficient, which can be seen in Table 5.  Table 5 shows the measurement of the path coefficient of the relationship between the variables. These results indicate that brand image, WoM, perceived price and service quality have a significant influence on Purchase Decision. Not only that, but Table 6 also shows that WoM, Perceived Price and Service Quality have a significant influence on Brand Image. This is because the path coefficient of all relationships between variables has a value of more than 2.0. Therefore, this study found that the existing hypothesis was proven. This research finds the results of an external model test that results in the value of the loading factor of all indicators exceeding 0.7.
This study successfully revealed that brand image has a significant positive effect on purchasing decisions (Table 6). This means that the better the brand image is owned by the hotels, so the visitors can further enhance purchasing decisions on the services offered by the hotels. These findings are relevant to the findings of Jha (2019); Kashi (2013); Kumar (2019); Pant et al. (2018); Udomkit (2015) and contention that view that brand image as a series of visitor's perceptions that arise from the results of visitor's evaluations on information about a brand. A set of these perceptions can remind visitors of a brand that can be the basis of visitor thinking in determining purchasing decisions. The findings in this study are in accordance with the view that states that visitors determine the decision to buy a service based on the Brand Image that is in the minds of visitors. This is because the Brand Image is considered as a type of association inside the visitors' minds when remembering a particular brand. Besides, Brand Image is a set of beliefs, impressions, and thoughts that consumers have in a brand so that the visitors' decisions can be determined from the brand image that is thought of by visitors on a Hotel brand.
Thus, the Hotel businesspeople need to pay attention to aspects of Brand Image and develop the Brand Image comprehensively so that the services offered by the Hotels can have a better impression so that visitors can determine the decision to purchase the services offered. In more detail, the Hotels need to develop indicators of Brand Image including Value, Quality, and Awareness, which in this study are proven to have the right level of validity and reliability to measure Brand Image variables. Therefore, the Hotels must be able to develop the benefits of the services offered, the impression of quality inherent in these services, and remain consistent in increasing consumer awareness of the existence of services from the Hotels.
This research also proves that brand image is also influenced by several factors such as  2019) and Zameer et al. (2019). These findings are relevant to the fact that services that are well communicated and carried out consistently can also create a good impression and are attached to the minds of consumers. The association formed in the mind of the consumer is what then creates a particular image. Thus, it can be concluded that a company that aims to create the right Brand Image in the minds of customers must be able to make excellent Word of Mouth and be done consistently to the visitors. In the context of Hotel services, Word of Mouth seems rather tricky if the Hotels emphasises conventional advertising, which requires expensive costs. Hotels can prioritise aspects of public relations activities and emphasise attention to the Word of Mouth aspect because they could be both critical aspects of marketing communication success other than relying on conventional aspects of advertising.
In addition to influencing Brand Image, this research also succeeded in proving that Word of Mouth also has a significant influence on Purchase  Zameer et al. (2019). This finding is also relevant to the view that consistency and a good impression of marketing communication activities can encourage visitors to make purchasing decisions on the services offered. Visitors determine the Purchase Decision because it is driven by a wealth of useful information about the services offered. The impulse is created from consumer confidence in the product purchased based on information that is received massively. Visitors certainly have doubts about determining the Purchase Decision if they do not have adequate information from marketing communication activities. Therefore, Hotels must also pay attention to these findings that information relating to the value and quality of the products offered must be consistently informed to consumers.
On the other hand, this research also proves that Perceived Price can also influence the Brand Image that is relevant to the results of research from Burguet Sákovics (2019); Junyi et al. (2018); Verma et al. (2019) and Wang et al. (2019). This finding is in line with the view that the Perceived Price creates a certain impression on the visitor's mind. Low prices tend to create a cheap impression of a product, and high prices tend to produce a luxurious and exclusive impression of a product. In this context, of course, the Hotels cannot set a high price so that the impression of good quality appears on the service being offered because it can produce a bad image. The Hotels also cannot immediately carry out a price war strategy by setting a low price because this decreases the image of the Hotels if it is considered too cheap. In these circumstances, the Hotels must be consistently at a price level that is in accordance with the value felt by visitors. Both aspects must be balanced because Hotels certainly cannot pursue the impression of luxury, and also should not be known as a manufacturer of cheap services.
In the context of this Perceived Price, this study also found that the Perceived Price can also influence the determination of purchasing decisions made by consumers. This finding is relevant to the results of the Burguet Sákovics (2019); Junyi et al. (2018); Verma et al. (2019) and Wang et al. (2019) study. The logic of the results of research that proves that there is an effect of Perceived Price on Purchase Decisions lies in the preferences of visitors to consume the services offered. Hotels must have the foresight to identify these visitor's preferences. This is because some visitors in determining the purchase decision tend to consider the prestige value of a product, and other visitors may consider the value for money of the service consumed.
This study also found that Service Quality has a positive and significant influence on Brand Image. This finding is relevant to the results of research conducted by Le et al. (2019); Roma et al. (2020) and Vu et al. (2019). The results of this study are also relevant to the view of the definition of Service Quality which states that Service Quality can create customer attitudes that result in a series of beliefs, feelings and behavioural tendencies in other people, objects or entities other than themselves from consumers in the form of happy disclosure of the entity. Of course, if visitors feel happy about a service, then the minds of these visitors can produce the right Brand Image of the product. Individual attitudes are expressions of visitors' feelings about an object and illustrate beliefs in various attributes and benefits of the object. Therefore, Hotels must also be able to identify and develop a pleasant Service Quality in order to create a Brand Image on the services offered.
In the aspect of the purchase decision, this study also proves that Service Quality also has a positive and significant influence on Purchase Decisions and is in accordance with the results of research conducted by Jha, (2019); Kashi (2013); Kumar (2019); Pant et al. (2018) and Udomkit (2015). This finding is certainly also relevant to the thought that happy visitors bring a positive attitude towards a product and ultimately determine the Purchase Decision on the service. This is because attitude is a condition in a consumer that tends not to change in responding to a product in the form of expressions of pleasure or displeasure at the services. So it can be interpreted that the view of customer attitude is more emphasised on the reaction or evaluation of consumers on the products offered and respond to it with a positive or negative attitude. This attitude can ultimately underlie consumers to buy the products offered.
This research produces findings that can be utilised for organisational development. The Hotels executives in their efforts to increase sales by influencing Purchase Decisions need to improve marketing communication activities better, which emphasises on improving public relations and Word of Mouth so that visitors' knowledge of the Hotel services is more extensive and makes it easier for visitors to determine Purchase Decisions. Hotel managers must also be careful in pricing strategies that must be aligned with the benefits and value obtained by consumers so that the price set can compete with similar products. The Hotel managers must also be able to identify and develop better Service Quality so that the visitors can realise the considered Purchase Decision.
Although this research contributed significantly to the study of consumer behaviour and service marketing development by generating significant findings from the hypotheses proposed in this study, this study also has several limitations. The limitations of this study consisted of four aspects, namely, variables, measurement indicators, research samples, and data analysis techniques. The variables in this study that determine the Purchase Decision only consist of individual factors, whereas the determinant of the Purchase Decision can depend on many other aspects. Therefore, it is recommended for further research in order to examine the broader factors in influencing Purchase Decisions.
This study also has limitations in processing variable measurement indicators that are used based on previous studies. It is also recommended for further research in order to develop measurements so that the variables studied in this study can be more precise. The sample in this study was also limited to the visitors who were consumers of Hotels and were only in specific locations. Thus, it is recommended for future research to investigate other professions and develop research coverage areas so that the research findings produced can be generalised more. On the other hand, the data analysis technique used in this study only uses the Partial Least Model. It is recommended for further research to be able to use other data analysis techniques that can produce more precise models.

CONCLUSIONS
Based on the findings that consistently support all hypotheses proposed in this study, it can be concluded that Word of Mouth has a positive and significant influence on Brand Image and Purchase Decisions. Perceived Price also has a positive and significant impact on Brand Image and Purchase Decisions. Service Quality was also found to have a positive and significant impact on Brand Image and Purchase Decisions. On the other hand, it was also found that Brand Image had a positive and significant influence on Purchase Decisions. Not only that, but this study also proved that Brand Image has a mediating role in the relationship between Word of Mouth, Perceived Price, and Customer Attitude with Purchase Decisions. This study also proves that the indicators used to measure the variables studied in this study have good consistency and reliability. This is indicated by the results of prerequisite tests conducted on the indicators of the Purchase Decision, Brand Image, Word of Mouth, Perceived Price and Service Quality variables known to meet the requirements of both the evaluation of the measurement model or the evaluation of the structural model.