TRUST AND SOCIAL INFLUENCE: KEY DRIVERS OF CONTINUOUS USE OF ALTERNATIVE MEDICINE IN INDONESIA

Abstract

The research explores the factors influencing Indonesians’ intentions to reuse alternative medicine to manage health issues, including trust, social influence, health benefits, and continuous intention. This study is grounded in the theory of the stimulus-organism-response (SOR) perspective, which explains research phenomena. To achieve the research objectives, the analytical descriptive approach was followed by developing a questionnaire and distributing it to the study sample of 200 respondents from those who use alternative medicine in Purwokerto City. Methods were used in the partial least squares structural equation modelling with Smartpls4 software to process data. The study showed a set of results, the most prominent being a statistically significant effect on continuous intention at the significance level (α ≤ 0.05) of social influence, trust, and health benefit. This study demonstrated that trust, health benefits, and social influence are key drivers of the continued use of alternative medicine. The findings of this paper can contribute to a better understanding of consumer behaviour towards alternative medicine, enabling healthcare practitioners and policymakers to develop targeted strategies for promoting alternative medicine.