The Impact of Meme Marketing on Consumer Purchase Intention: The Mediating Role of Consumer Engagement in the Saudi Market

Abstract

Meme-based promotional tactics have become a prevalent strategy in social media marketing; nonetheless, empirical validation of their cross-cultural effectiveness continues to be scarce. The current study reapplies and regionally tailors the methodological design proposed by Rathi and Jain (2024) to investigate how meme marketing initiatives shape purchase intentions among Saudi social media consumers, while positioning consumer engagement as the intervening mechanism. Data were collected via an online, cross-sectional quantitative survey. A total of 284 eligible Saudi participants, ranging between 18 and 40 years of age, completed a 22-item survey derived from pre-validated psychometric measures, which was subsequently rendered into Arabic following a forward-backward translation protocol. Analytical procedures relied upon Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM). Empirical outcomes indicated that meme marketing practices exert a strong, positive influence on engagement (? = 0.692, p < .001), and that engagement, in turn, serves as a significant positive predictor of purchase intention (? = 0.373, p < .001). The observation of a significant direct path between meme marketing and purchase intention (? = 0.465, p < .001), alongside an indirect effect through engagement (? = 0.258, p < .001), provides support for a partial mediation effect. These results not only reaffirm but also broaden existing scholarly evidence to the Arabian Gulf region, thereby enriching the theoretical underpinnings of Uses and Gratifications Theory and Social Cognitive Theory. On a practical level, the findings deliver data-informed strategic insights for brand stewards and digital communication practitioners active in the Saudi market. 

Keywords: Meme Marketing; Consumer Engagement; Purchase Intention; Social Media Marketing; Saudi Arabia; Replication Study