Tourists’ transformation through perceived placeness in urban creative tourism: A means-end chain perspective

Urban creative tourism, centered on participation, creative practice, and co-creation embedded in urban cultural contexts, is a key driver of meaningful experiences and personal transformation. Yet, the mechanisms through which such places evoke tourists' transformation remain underexplored. Grounded in the means-end chain theory, this study qualitatively clarifies the forms of perceived placeness, tourists' experiences, and transformative values using online tourist-generated content from Tanhualin, Wuhan, and quantitatively establishes and organizes these factors into a holistic framework. Findings indicate that perceived placeness is shaped by three domains (creative consumption infrastructure, cultural and heritage placeness, and scenographic configurations), encompassing nine key attributes. These attributes generate six types of hedonic and cognitive experiences, which foster six transformative values (positive emotions, nostalgia, self-improvement, self-satisfaction, self-actualization, and a sense of belonging). Twelve dominant means-end chains illustrate how creativity- and capital-driven placeness promotes creative and aesthetic experiences and psychological involvements, eventually evoking positive emotions and self-improvement. This study enriches the theoretical discourse on tourists' transformation in urban creative tourism and informs sustainable creative place-making for destinations.