Pathways Linking Content Marketing to Purchase Intention: A Systematic Literature Review
Abstract
Content marketing has become a central strategy in digital and social media environments, where brands increasingly use valuable, interactive, visual, and narrative content to shape consumer responses. Although many studies have examined the relationship between content marketing and purchase intention, the literature remains fragmented across platforms, industries, consumer groups, content formats, and theoretical mechanisms. This systematic literature review synthesises 33 journal articles published between 2020 and 2026 on content marketing and purchase intention. Guided by PRISMA reporting logic and thematic synthesis, the review identifies three major themes that explain the pathways through which content marketing is linked to purchase intention: content and platform communication design, brand-building and social credibility mechanisms, and experiential, identity, and cultural responses. The findings indicate that content marketing rarely operates as a single direct stimulus. Instead, its influence is shaped through a layered pathway in which valuable and platform-appropriate content attracts attention and interaction, brand-related and socially credible mechanisms convert exposure into trust and evaluation, and experiential, identity, or cultural responses deepen consumer connection. This review contributes by organising scattered evidence into an integrated pathway explanation of how content marketing shapes purchase intention. For practitioners, the findings suggest that effective content strategies should combine valuable content, platform-audience fit, brand-building, credible communication, and experiential engagement.
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