Title:
THE EFFECT OF ENDORSER CREDIBILITY ON BRAND EQUITY OF WARDAH PRODUCTS IN BANDA ACEH AND SABANG WITH BRAND CREDIBILITY AS A MEDIATION: DOES THE GEOGRAPHIC CAN BE AS A MODERATION?

Authors:
*Diana Wildani, Syafruddin Chan and Sorayanti Utami

Abstract:
This study aims to analyze the effect of endorser's credibility on Wardah product brand equity in Banda Aceh and Sabang with credibility as a mediating variable and geography as a moderating variable. The population taken in this study was the people of Banda Aceh and Sabang, as the users of Wardah products. The sample used was purposive sampling with the number of respondents in this study were 200 people. Because in this study using the geographic variable as moderating variable, the number of a sample taken was divided into two, namely 100 respondents for the Banda Aceh area and 100 respondents for the Sabang area. The analysis technique used in this research was quantitative analysis using the SEM (Structural Equation Modeling). The research model was tested into 3 models, namely the combined model between the Banda Aceh and Sabang areas, the Banda Aceh model, and the Sabang model. The results show that the 3 models for direct and mediation hypothesis testing produced the same significant results, namely endorser credibility significantly affects brand credibility, endorser credibility significantly affects brand equity, brand credibility significantly affects brand equity, and brand credibility significantly mediates the effect of endorser credibility on brand equity. What distinguishes it is the coefficient of value, which can be used as a measure of comparison between the combined model, the Banda Aceh model, and the Sabang model, which can be used as a comparative analysis. For the moderation test in the combined model, it reveals that Geographic does not significantly moderate the influences in the research model, which means the presence of this variable does not affect the research model. These findings prove that the designed model can be used to increase Wardah Product's brand equity for Banda Aceh and Sabang cities, without taking geographic variable into account. This means that strategies to increase brand equity for the Banda Aceh and Sabang geographic areas will tend to be the same. The findings also prove that Banda Aceh and Sabang have their respective advantages and achievements in treating each variable in this research model so that they can exemplify each other and combine their future strategies.