Reverse innovation and digital sustainability in rural destinations: evidence from Iran's Hawraman

Introduction This study examines digital entrepreneurship in two rural heritage villages—Hajij and Palangan—located within Iran's UNESCO World Heritage landscape of Hawraman, with a focus on how technological adoption is experienced under infrastructural constraints. Methods A hermeneutic phenomenological approach informed by Heideggerian philosophy was employed. In-depth interviews were conducted with 21 entrepreneurs to explore the lived experience of digital entrepreneurial practice in heritage settings. Results The analysis identified five interrelated experiential dimensions: infrastructural liminality, identity-functional duality, collective-relational agency, re-adaptive cycle, and contextual spirituality. Together, these dimensions constitute a pentagonal framework structuring digital entrepreneurship in rural heritage destinations. Discussion Findings indicate that infrastructural limitations operate not merely as barriers but as catalysts for reverse adaptive innovation, collective resilience, and culturally embedded technological appropriation. The study advances the concepts of evolutionary authenticity and heritage co-creation, offering transferable insights for sustainable digital transformation in heritage destinations.