The Influence of Digital Museum Exhibitions on Tourists’Behavioral Intention: The Mediating Role of perceived Value

Abstract

Digital transformation is reshaping museum exhibition strategies by integrating immersive technologies such as virtual reality (VR) and interactive media. While prior research has examined the experiential benefits of digital exhibitions, limited empirical evidence explains the mechanism through which immersive digital experiences influence tourists’ behavioral intentions. Drawing on embodied cognition theory and perceived value theory, this study examines the mediating role of perceived value in the relationship between immersive experience and tourists’ behavioral intention. An online questionnaire survey was conducted among visitors who had experienced the “Six Arts” digital exhibition at Shandong Provincial Museum. A total of 408 valid responses were collected. Structural equation modeling (SEM) was employed to test the hypothesized relationships among immersive experience, perceived value, and tourists’ behavioral intention. The results indicate that immersive experience has a significant positive effect on perceived value (β= 0.946, p < 0.001) and on tourists’ behavioral intention (β= 0.923, p < 0.001). Perceived value also exerts a significant positive effect on behavioral intention (β= 0.878, p < 0.001). Mediation analysis confirms that perceived value plays a partial mediating role between immersive experience and tourists’ behavioral intention. Immersive experience enhances perceived experiential benefits and strengthens the evaluation of time and monetary value, thereby increasing overall perceived value and subsequent revisit and recommendation intentions. This study empirically validates a partial mediation model in which immersive digital experiences influence tourists’ behavioral intention both directly and indirectly through perceived value. The findings confirm the embodied cognition mechanism in digital museum contexts and highlight the importance of enhancing both experiential benefits and value justification in digital exhibition design.