The Impact of Brand Image on Purchase Intention: The Mediating Roles of Perceived Value and Brand Trust for Chinese Sneaker Brands

The global athletic footwear market has long been dominated by an oligopolistic landscape established by Western brands such as Nike and Adidas.Leveraging their profound brand equity, innovative product technologies, and formidable global marketing strategies, they have constructed a nearly unshakeable market structure.However, the last decade has witnessed a reconfiguration of the global industrial supply chain, signaling not merely a manufacturing shift but a paradigm shift in brand power.Led by Anta and Li-Ning, Chinese sports brands are leveraging substantial capital, state-level policy support, and maturing R&D capabilities to actively transform from their traditional role as "Made in China" manufacturers into formidable "Created in China" challengers (Tong & Su, 2021).This transformation is not without substance.These brands have strategically utilized lucrative sponsorships of top-tier NBA stars (e.g., Klay Thompson, Dwyane Wade) and positioned themselves in premier international events like the Olympic Games.Concurrently, they have launched market-competitive products, such as carbon-plated running shoes and advanced cushioning technologies for basketball, to powerfully convey their professional image and technological confidence to global consumers.Simultaneously, the "Guochao" (国潮) phenomenon-a consumer trend blending national pride, traditional cultural elements, and modern aesthetics-has become prevalent among China's younger generation, significantly boosting domestic market share and brand identification for local brands (Wang, 2022).This cultural force is now attempting to transcend geographical boundaries, potentially influencing Chinese-speaking markets with high cultural affinity.Within this context, university students in Taiwan emerge as a highly valuable demographic for observation.They are active followers of global pop culture, primary recipients of digital media information, and a key consumer group possessing both significant purchasing potential and opinion leadership in the athletic footwear market.Their attitudes toward these emerging Chinese brands may reflect not only their personal preferences for product functionality and design aesthetics but also a complex projection of perceptions related to brand origin, cultural identity, and even the intricate cross-strait situation.Consequently, investigating how this specific group perceives, evaluates, and ultimately decides whether to purchase Chinese sneaker brands has become an urgent and complex academic issue.Despite the continuously growing global visibility and market share of Chinese sports brands, their brand image within the Taiwanese