From tokenism to authorship: converting passive participation into empowerment in regeneration practice

Purpose To explain how resident participation roles – active versus passive – shape subjective well-being in community creative regeneration, using a Stimulus–Organism–Response (SOR) lens that foregrounds role negotiation, empowerment and cultural (dis)continuity. Design/methodology/approach A mixed-methods design combined qualitative fieldwork with a resident survey around a large-scale public art initiative in Chongqing, China. Qualitative insights informed model specification, and survey data were analysed using structural equation modelling to test dual mediating pathways and contextual moderators (innovation climate and technological anxiety). Findings Participation operates through two distinct pathways. Active roles enhance well-being by strengthening empowerment and perceived meaning. In contrast, passive roles increase cultural identity challenges and participation-related alienation, thereby reducing well-being. Context plays a critical role: a supportive innovation climate amplifies empowerment effects, whereas technological anxiety intensifies cultural disruption and its negative consequences. Research limitations/implications Managers should design participation frameworks that expand agentic, meaning-rich roles (e.g. participatory design, storytelling and collaborative curation) while mitigating tokenistic involvement through low-threshold, heritage-sensitive programming. Additionally, reducing technological anxiety through cultural and digital literacy training, along with inclusive communication, can help safeguard psychological safety. Social implications Framing regeneration as cultural negotiation – balancing innovation with cultural continuity – can strengthen identity, belonging and community well-being, informing more inclusive and sustainable regeneration strategies. Originality/value The study extends SOR from consumer/environmental psychology to community cultural governance by identifying participation roles as key stimuli that trigger divergent psychological mechanisms. It reframes participation beyond formal power redistribution towards symbolic inclusion, place-claiming and cultural authorship, advancing debates on representation and the politics of belonging.