EXAMINING TRUST IN THE CONTEXT OF K-POP FANS’ PURCHASE DECISION THROUGH GROUP ORDERS AT CECIZ GO

Abstract

The Korean Wave or Hallyu phenomenon has created significant changes in consumer behavior around the world, including Indonesia, especially in the pattern of purchasing K-Pop merchandise through the Group Order (GO) system. One of the GOs present among fans is Ceciz GO, which serves as an intermediary for fans to purchase merchandise from abroad. In this context, trust is an important factor that determines fans' purchase decisions toward GO owners. This study aims to analyze the influence of trust on the purchase decisions of active Ceciz GO members. The research method used a descriptive-verificative quantitative approach with a sample of 83 respondents obtained through purposive sampling from a population of 440 active members of Ceciz GO. The instrument, in the form of a five-point Likert scale questionnaire, was tested for validity, reliability, and simple linear regression using IBM SPSS Statistics 26. The analysis results show that trust has a positive and significant effect on purchase decisions, contributing 61.5%. These findings indicate that trust in the credibility, transparency, and security of the purchasing system is a key factor driving purchasing decisions on fandom-based social commerce platforms. Further research is recommended to add variables such as perceived value and community engagement to broaden our understanding of consumer behavior in the digital fandom ecosystem.