Integrated marketing communications as a strategic capability: Effects on purchase decisions via brand equity and satisfaction

Type of the article: Research ArticleAbstractThis study examines how integrated marketing communications influence purchase decisions in digitally saturated e-commerce environments, where consumers increasingly resist direct persuasion. Data were collected from 316 millennial e-commerce consumers in Jakarta, Indonesia, and analyzed using Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM). The results show that integrated marketing communications do not have a significant direct effect on purchase decisions (β = 0.074, p > 0.05). Instead, their influence operates entirely through indirect mechanisms, with customer-based brand equity (β = 0.556, p < 0.001) and customer satisfaction (β = 0.144, p < 0.05) acting as mediators. Customer-based brand equity emerges as the dominant cognitive pathway, while customer satisfaction provides a complementary affective mechanism. Additionally, a significant sequential mediation effect indicates that communication first shapes brand-related cognitive evaluations, which subsequently enhance satisfaction and lead to purchase decisions. These findings challenge persuasion-centric models and demonstrate that communication effectiveness in digital markets depends on building long-term brand and experiential value. The study provides theoretical and managerial insights for designing communication strategies in increasingly competitive digital environments.