Understanding Continued Use Intention of Digital Intangible Cultural Heritage Games Through the SOR Model

Understanding Continued Use Intention of Digital Intangible Cultural Heritage Games Through the SOR Model | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Research Article Understanding Continued Use Intention of Digital Intangible Cultural Heritage Games Through the SOR Model Guanning Wang, Delai Men This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-5709371/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Published Journal Publication published 05 Jul, 2025 Read the published version in npj Heritage Science → Version 1 posted 9 You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Digital games have emerged as a popular method for disseminating intangible cultural heritage (ICH). However, research on the motivations driving continuous intention to play digital ICH games remains limited. Therefore, this study aims to investigate the factors influencing users' continuous intention to play digital ICH games. We applied the SOR framework to investigate how two primary external stimuli—game factors and social factors—impact users' hedonic and utilitarian perceptions. Furthermore, we analysed how these perceptions influence users' continuous intention and assessed the moderating effects of cultural identity and value co-creation. With data collected from a survey of 338 gamers, the results revealed that both utilitarian and hedonic performance confirmations drive the use of digital ICH games. System quality and information quality exclusively influence utilitarian performance confirmation, while critical mass and social interaction positively influence both utilitarian and hedonic performance confirmations. Additionally, cultural identity positively moderates the relationships between utilitarian performance confirmation and continuous intention, as well as hedonic performance confirmation and continuous intention. The research highlighted the relative importance of specific factors, offering more profound insights into the continuous intention of digital ICH gamers. Digital ICH games Intangible cultural heritage Cultural identity Social interaction SOR theory Full Text Additional Declarations No competing interests reported. Supplementary Files Dataanalysisaccessiblity.sav Supplementaryinformation.pdf STROBEchecklist.pdf Cite Share Download PDF Status: Published Journal Publication published 05 Jul, 2025 Read the published version in npj Heritage Science → Version 1 posted Editorial decision: Revision requested 11 May, 2025 Reviews received at journal 05 May, 2025 Reviews received at journal 22 Apr, 2025 Reviewers agreed at journal 22 Apr, 2025 Reviewers agreed at journal 21 Apr, 2025 Reviewers agreed at journal 19 Apr, 2025 Reviewers invited by journal 19 Apr, 2025 Submission checks completed at journal 19 Apr, 2025 First submitted to journal 15 Apr, 2025 You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. 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Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-5709371","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Research Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":445974910,"identity":"1f60f049-efa9-4827-a9ec-c2a46b711f4e","order_by":0,"name":"Guanning Wang","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"City University of Macau","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Guanning","middleName":"","lastName":"Wang","suffix":""},{"id":445974911,"identity":"cf23d7a9-5856-4eac-b014-41224dff75d1","order_by":1,"name":"Delai 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