Sustainable Development of Digital Cultural Heritage: A Hybrid Analysis of Crowdsourcing Projects Using fsQCA and System Dynamics

Cultural heritage crowdsourcing has emerged as a promising approach to address the challenges of digitizing and preserving cultural heritage, contributing to the sustainable development goals of cultural preservation and digital inclusivity. However, the long-term sustainability of these projects faces numerous obstacles. This study explores the key configurational determinants and dynamic evolutionary mechanisms driving the sustainable development of cultural heritage crowdsourcing projects, aiming to enhance their longevity and impact. An innovative integration of fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) and system dynamics (SD) is employed, drawing upon a “resource coordination–stakeholder interaction–value co-creation” analytical framework. Through a multi-case comparison of 18 cultural heritage crowdsourcing projects, we identify necessary conditions for project sustainability, including platform support, data resources, knowledge capital, and digitalization performance. The study reveals multiple sufficient pathways to sustainability through configurational combinations of participant motivation, innovation drive, social capital, and social impact. Our system dynamics analysis demonstrates that crowdsourcing project sustainability exhibits significant nonlinear dynamic characteristics, influenced by the interaction and emergent effects of the resource–participation–performance chain. This research offers both theoretical insights and practical guidance for optimizing crowdsourcing mechanisms and sustainable project operations, contributing to the broader goals of sustainable cultural heritage preservation and digital humanities development. The findings provide a roadmap for policymakers and project managers to design and implement more sustainable and impactful cultural heritage crowdsourcing initiatives, aligning with global sustainability objectives in the digital age.