463 © 2023 Conscientia Beam. All Rights Reserved. In China, customer engagement mediates between brand image and purchase intention of premium hotels Wong Chee Hoo 1+ Liu Xiaoyan 2 Babak Ziyae 3 Suriana Ramli 4 Visal Moosa 5 1 Faculty of Business and Communications, INTI International University, Nilai, Negeri Sembilan, Malaysia. Email: Cheehoo.wong@newinti.edu.my 2 International Education, Hebei Finance University, Baoding, Hebei, China. Email: liuxiaoyan6335@126.com 3 Faculty of Entrepreneurship, University of Tehran, Iran. Email: bziyae@ut.ac.ir 4 Arshad Ayub Graduate Business School, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Malaysia. Email: surianaramli@uitm.edu.my 5 Centre for Research & Publication, Islamic University of Maldives, Maldives. Email: Visal.moosa@gmail.com (+ Corresponding author) ABSTRACT Article History Received: 3 May 2023 Revised: 19 June 2023 Accepted: 10 October 2023 Published: 22 November 2023 Keywords Brand image China Customer engagement Premiun hotel Purchase intention Theory of planned behaviour. The objective of this research is to investigate the relationship between the brand image of premium hotels in China, the level of customer engagement they experience, and their intention to make a purchase at one of those hotels. The study model that was developed made use of something called the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB). Using a method known as convenience sampling, samples were collected from people living in Beijing, China. Participants in the poll who intended to make reservations at upmarket hotels were given the survey questionnaires. A grand number of 459 specimens were collected for the purpose of analysis. The process of data analysis and validation of the research hypotheses was conducted using SmartPLS. This research provides evidence that there is a connection between customer engagement and brand image, as well as the purchase intention. According to the findings of the study, the relationship between a brand's image and a consumer's propensity to make a purchase is diminished when customer engagement and brand image factors are both present. As a result, the efficacy of customer interaction as a mediator was shown to have been demonstrated. The academician is presented with new information in the form of this result, and further discussion is given regarding its application to practitioners. Contribution/Originality: According to this study, consumer interaction mediates the relationship between brand image and purchase intention. Customer engagement is a little-studied but important factor that influences brand image and purchasing intention in China's high-end hotels. The association between brand image and purchase intention is made clearer by this new technique. 1. INTRODUCTION As a result of the proliferation of new types of internet-based accommodation, the traditional hotel business is facing significant challenges. Due to the change, it is vital to investigate what influence s tourist’s online hotel booking decisions. According to China's online hotel booking data for the first quarter of 2019, Online Travel Agents (OTA) transactions accounted for 58.3% and ranked first, while hotel official websites and apps accounted International Journal of Management and Sustainability 2023 Vol. 12, No. 3, pp. 463-473 ISSN(e): 2306-0662 ISSN(p): 2306-9856 DOI: 10.18488/11.v12i3.3523 © 2023 Conscientia Beam. All Rights Reserved.