The Influence of Key Opinion Leaders (KOLs) on Consumer Purchase Interest of Student in Bandung, Indonesia

This study aimed to determine how Key Opinion Leaders (KOLs) influence student buying interest in Greater Bandung, Indonesia. Respondents in this study came from vocational students and university students in Greater Bandung who have used social media. This study uses a quantitative descriptive method using statistical analysis in the form of validity and reliability tests, simple linear regression tests, correlation tests, and normality tests. The sample in this study amounted to 115 respondents. The data collection technique used was distributing questionnaires to respondents via Google Forms. The results showed that key opinion leaders have a significant effect on buying interest, which means that key opinion leaders can influence the buying interest of students in Greater Bandung, Indonesia.


INTRODUCTION
The rapid development of information technology in 2023 has increased internet usage activities which have become an activity of the general public.The use of the internet in daily activities is not only used as an effort to become a communication medium but is also used to meet various needs such as the need for information, work, entertainment, and business.Based on a survey report by the Indonesian Internet Service Providers Association (APJII), it was noted that the population of Indonesians who use the internet reached 78.19% in 2023 or 215,626,156 people from a total population of 275,773,901 people have used the internet.The development of internet usage has encouraged the emergence of new habits of people who carry out online buying and selling activities in the marketplace which continues to increase over time (Chaniago, 2021).
New habits in carrying out buying and selling transactions have attracted the attention of entrepreneurs to compete in carrying out online marketing strategies through various social media platforms such as Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, and Facebook.One of the marketing strategies carried out to market products to potential consumers through social media is by establishing communication and cooperation with key opinion leaders in order to market their products through their social media accounts.According to Yuanita (2021), key opinion leaders are individuals who are active on social networks where they can attract attention and influence the behavior of others with various ideas and opinions that they convey on social media.
The opinions and ideas given by key opinion leaders are used as a benchmark by the public to assess the value of a product based on the opinions conveyed (Chaniago, 2023).How a key opinion leader conveys his message about a product can influence the perception of potential consumers about the product and influence consumer purchasing interest.So it is not uncommon for companies to collaborate with key opinion leaders to help market their products so that potential consumers consider buying the products offered by the company (Chaniago, 2022).
Based on this phenomenon, key opinion leaders have the potential to influence consumer interest in buying a product.Therefore, this study examines the influence of key opinion leaders on consumer purchasing interest in students in Greater Bandung, Indonesia.This study can provide benefits to expand knowledge about the influence of key opinion leaders on student purchasing decisions in Bandung Raya, Indonesia and provide knowledge about what kind of key opinion leaders can increase consumer purchasing interest in a product.

Marketing Communication
According to Puspita & Tasrif (2022) marketing communication is a tool in achieving a company's marketing goals by providing information, influencing, and promoting a marketing activity.This marketing communication helps companies convey a product value to potential consumers to get to know more about the product they will choose, how to obtain the product, what benefits can be obtained, and all information about the products or services offered by the company (Kusuma & Sugandi, 2019).Marketing communication is a core indicator to assess how a company utilizes planning, strategy, implementation, and evaluation in maintaining or developing a company in the business world (Reza, 2016).
According to Firmansyah (2020) the purpose of promotion is to increase sales volume by influencing consumers when making decisions.Promotion is not only about communicating or conveying information but about wanting communication that creates an atmosphere or situation where consumers can choose the products they want (Efawati, 2016;Chaniago and Efawati, 2022).Where of course promotion needs to be based on consumer behavior in buying products in order to meet consumer expectations of a product.
It is important for a company to be able to implement marketing communications well, conveying that consumers can remember a product offered by the company because of a company image or the value of the product and a good relationship with consumers (Slamet, 2020;Efawati and Juhandi, 2020;Efawati & Chaniago, 2017).

Key Opinion Leaders (KOLs)
From a communication science perspective, key opinion leaders (KOLs) are individuals who can convince the general public and have a high role in providing information that is considered credible (Erfinda & Nugraha, 2023).This is in line with the opinion of Khoirunnisa and Pinandito (2023) who stated that key opinion leaders (KOLs) are individuals who can reach audiences more specifically because they have certain advantages in a field.According to Yuanita ( 2021) key opinion leaders (KOLs) on social media include influencers, buzzers, and endorsers.
Based on the results of research conducted by He and Jin (2022), a key opinion leader can be categorized into three main attributes, namely: • Trustworthiness relates to the extent to which the public can accept the message conveyed by key opinion leaders as true and honest information.• Attractiveness relates to the attractiveness reflected in a person's aesthetics, be it an individual or an object that has unique features such as a distinctive voice, body shape, and so on.• Expertise relates to the ability or value of individual competence where the public needs more information or opinions from people who have in-depth abilities in that field.
Meanwhile, in a study conducted by Baharsyam and Wahyuti (2022), to assess the level of effectiveness of using a key opinion leader in advertising a product, the VisCAP model can be used.The VisCAP model divides the assessment of a key opinion leader into four essential elements, namely: • Visibility is a measure of the popularity of a key opinion leader.Refers to the level of fame measured by how many people follow a key opinion leader on social media.• Credibility is a benchmark for assessing the expertise of a key opinion leader in their field.This expertise can be reflected in how knowledge is applied to understand a product that will be promoted and the extent to which key opinion leaders provide trust and confidence in the product being offered.• Attraction is an aspect of similarity to the personality of the product and the level of key opinion leaders' liking for the product.Key opinion leaders who have the same personal characteristics as the product tend to form a special attraction for consumers.• Power is an aspect of the ability of key opinion leaders to attract the attention of consumers so that they can buy the product being offered.

Purchase Interest
According to Sari (2020), purchase interest is an act of paying attention to how consumers commit to making a purchase.Meanwhile, according to Indika and Jovita (2017), purchase interest is a consumer behavior in assessing a product before consumers choose to make a purchase.This purchase interest itself is a major factor that can influence consumers when they want to decide to use a particular product or service (Setyani & Azhari, 2021).Halena and Yovita (2020) in their study said that consumer behavior can arise when they receive stimulation of a product offered to consumers before deciding to make a purchase.Setyani and Azhari (2021) stated that this purchase interest can arise when consumers have made a purchase which is measured based on the extent to which the consumer can make a purchase.Purchase interest itself is a person's willingness to buy a product or service because they believe that the product can provide benefits to be felt (Rizal Nur Qudus & Sri Amelia, 2022;Efawati et al., 2024).According to Indika and Jovita (2017), there are several stages in determining consumer purchasing interest, which are divided into 4 parts, namely: • Attention is the stage at which consumers respond to products offered by the company.• Interest is the stage at which a potential consumer's interest in a product offered by the company arises.• Desire is the stage at which potential consumers are motivated or have the desire to have the product offered by the company.• Action is the stage at which potential consumers decide to make a purchase of a product offered by the company to potential consumers.
Consumer purchasing interest in a product, be it a service or goods, can be formed due to several factors.According to Kotler in Sari (2020), the factors that form consumer purchasing interest are: • The attitude of others (Respect to Others) refers to the perspective of others towards other choices which depend on two factors, namely dislike of other choices preferred by consumers and consumer motivation in fulfilling other people's desires for a product.• Unexpected situational factors refer to components that could occur and change a potential consumer's purchasing decision for a product.
Meanwhile, according to Purbohastuti and Hidayah (2020), the factors that influence consumer buying interest in making a purchase are related to aspects of feelings and emotions.When consumers feel happy and satisfied when buying a product, there will be a tendency to increase consumer interest in shopping, while if consumers do not feel happy and satisfied when buying a product, there will be a tendency to reduce consumer buying interest in the product offered (Munandar & Efawati, 2020;Efawati and Juhandi, 2020).
The research conducted consists of two variables, namely one independent variable and one dependent variable.Key Opinion Leaders (KOLs) in this study are independent variables while consumer buying interest is the dependent variable.This study assumes that key opinion leaders (KOLs) have an influence on consumer buying interest.So the hypothesis of the proposed research is as follows: H0: There is no influence of key opinion leaders on student purchasing interest in Bandung Raya, Indonesia.H1: There is an influence of key opinion leaders on student purchasing interest in Bandung Raya, Indonesia.

RESEARCH METHOD
The research method used is quantitative descriptive which aims to describe the phenomenon studied in detail by testing the relationship between the two variables.The respondents in this study were 115 respondents of Bandung Raya students, Indonesia who have used the internet and often use social media with an age range of 17-22 years.The data used in this study came from a questionnaire created using Google Form and distributed online independently via social media links.This study uses an instrument in the form of a questionnaire that asks 16 questions consisting of two parts.The identity and information on the criteria of the respondents needed are the first part of this questionnaire, the second part contains various questions asked based on indicators of the two variables regarding the influence of key opinion leaders (KOLs) on consumer buying interest in students in Bandung Raya, Indonesia.
This questionnaire has been tested on 30 prospective respondents who have criteria according to the research to be conducted.The data from the trial results are linked to each question item with the total respondent answers.According to Chaniago et al., (2023) the results of the validity coefficient test greater than 0.3 are considered valid and the data can be used.Based on the results of the validity test conducted, the results obtained stated that variable X and variable Y obtained a correlation value between 0.7 to 0.9, so it can be concluded that the instrument on variable X and variable Y is valid.
In addition, this study conducted a reliability test.This reliability test is used to obtain accurate and consistent measuring instruments in measuring each data to be measured.If the results of the reliability test with α ≥ 0.7 then the data is suitable for use to test research needs (Chaniago et al., 2023).Based on the results of the reliability test conducted, the results obtained stated that variable X had a Cronbach's Alpha of 0.953 while variable Y had a Cronbach's Alpha of 0.966.Where these results show a value of ≥ 0.7 and it can be concluded that this research measuring instrument is reliable.

Respondent Characteristics
Based on the questionnaire that has been distributed via social media, the following are the results of the demographic analysis of respondents presented in table 1.

Key Opinion Leaders (X)
Buying Interest (Y) Figure 1: Framework

Regression test results
This regression analysis is used to determine how much influence the variable X (Key Opinion Leaders) has on the variable Y (Purchase Interest).Based on table 2, the correlation value (R) is 0.891 while the coefficient of determination (R Square) is 0.793 with a significance level of 0.000, which means that Key Opinion Leaders have an influence of 79.3% on consumer purchase interest, while 20.7% of consumer purchase interest is influenced by other variables.Based on the results of the analysis using the correlation analysis method, the Pearson Correlation value was obtained at 0.891 with a total of 115 respondents.This means that this value shows a correlation between Key Opinion Leaders and purchasing interest of 89.1% and is significant at a value of 0.000.

Normality test results
The results of data processing using the normality test function to see whether the observed data follows a normal distribution or not.The normal distribution itself is characterized by a pattern that focuses on the center of the line so that the data gathers around the midpoint and only a small portion is spread at the top and bottom of the distribution.In Figure 2, it can be seen that the sample points on the standard p-plot plot are located on the left to right diagonal so that it can be concluded that the sample points show that the data follows a normal distribution so that it can prove the normality assumption is correct.
Based on the data from processing using correlation analysis, it states that the significance value of Sig.(2-tailed) between variable X (Key Opinion Leaders) and variable Y (Purchase Interest) is 0.000, which means that there is a correlation or probability that is far below 0.05 so that there is a significant correlation between Key Opinion Leaders and student purchasing interest in Bandung Raya, Indonesia.Based on the regression analysis conducted, the total influence (R Square) of key opinion leaders on students' purchasing interest in Greater Bandung, Indonesia is 0.793 with a significance count of 0.000 <0.05, which states that the H1 hypothesis is accepted or there is an influence of key opinion leaders on students' purchasing interest in Greater Bandung, Indonesia.

DISCUSSION
Students in Bandung Raya, Indonesia can be triggered to buy a product if key opinion leaders have three main attributes as stated by He and Jin (2022) which are divided into trustworthiness, attractiveness, and expertise.Therefore, the selection of the right key opinion leaders to market the products to be offered needs to be analyzed first by the Ramadhan Saputra Gozali, Harmon Chaniago International Journal Administration, Business & Organization, Vol. 5 (3), 2024 93 DOI: https://doi.org/10.61242/ijabo.24.345 company, because this can be a very effective effort to attract the buying interest of students in Bandung Raya, Indonesia.
A study conducted on 115 respondents showed that key opinion leaders have a positive influence on buying interest and have an R Square value of 0.793, which means that there is a relationship between key opinion leaders and the buying interest of students in Bandung Raya, Indonesia.This study has a significance value of 0.000 which shows significant because it has a value <0.05, which means there is a significant influence between variable X (Key Opinion Leaders) and variable Y (Buying Interest).
The Pearson Correlation value in this study was 0.891, which indicates a correlation of 89.1% between variable X (Key Opinion Leaders) and variable Y (Purchase Interest).The results of the regression test analysis in this study showed a value of 79.3% of the purchase interest of students in Bandung Raya, Indonesia was influenced by key opinion leaders, while 20.7% of the purchase interest of students in Bandung Raya, Indonesia was influenced by other variables not tested in this study.This is in line with the results of the study by Khoirunnisa and Pinandito (2023) which stated that Key Opinion Leaders have a positive and significant influence on consumer purchase interest.This indicates that key opinion leaders have a significant influence in determining consumer purchase interest.Respondents who were students in this study were aged 17-22 years, proving that key opinion leaders have a contribution in influencing purchase interest in a product.In a study conducted by Khoirunnisa and Pinandito (2023), it was stated that only trustworthiness influences consumer purchasing interest, but in this study, every aspect of each key opinion leader influences the purchasing interest of students in Bandung Raya, Indonesia.The different research results are because there are differences in the targets studied, resulting in different research results, in addition, the areas in the study are also different, which can affect how a person's personality is formed and thinks about something (Syamaun, 2019;Efawati, 2023;Efawati et al., 2021;Efawati, 2020).
Key opinion leaders who have many followers, have experience in their field, are good at communicating visually about the products offered, and provide data and facts based on the results of scientific studies or research are key opinion leaders who can attract the purchasing interest of students in Bandung Raya, Indonesia.So companies need to analyze key opinion leaders properly before collaborating in order to attract the purchasing interest of students in Bandung Raya, Indonesia more precisely.

CONCLUSION
This study found that there is a significant influence between Key Opinion Leaders on the purchase interest of students in Bandung Raya, Indonesia.The majority of respondents targeting students influence their interest in a product because they are often exposed to social media and can be easily influenced by the opinions expressed by key opinion leaders to buy a product offered.The researcher suggests using more respondents to get more accurate results and to specify the key opinion leaders variable because key opinion leaders in this study include influencers, buzzers, and endorsers.

Figure 2 :
Figure 2: Graph of Normality Data

Table 1 :
Simple Regression of Model Summary