Beyond Attitudes and Norms: How Perceived Shared Control Rights and Digital Trust Are Associated with Collaborative Behavior in Public Digital Cultural Services

Public digital cultural services (PDCS) are vital for providing cultural resources in the digital age, and their success is closely associated with active public collaboration. While the Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA) explains behavioral intention through attitudes and subjective norms, it overlooks the role of institutional structures. Drawing on TRA and Control Rights Theory, this study constructs an extended theoretical framework by introducing perceived shared control rights as a core antecedent variable and digital trust as a moderating variable, aiming to explore the psychological factors associated with individual collaborative behavior in PDCS. A questionnaire survey was conducted with 819 users of PDCS platforms, and the research hypotheses were tested using Structural Equation Modeling. The results show that individuals’ attitudes and subjective norms are positively associated with their collaborative willingness, which in turn is positively associated with actual collaborative behavior. Perceived shared control rights are positively associated with both collaborative willingness and collaborative behavior, and also show an indirect association with collaborative behavior through collaborative willingness. Additionally, digital trust moderates the relationship between collaborative willingness and collaborative behavior, with this positive association being stronger for individuals with higher digital trust. This study bridges the gap between macro-institutional structures and micro-psychological behavior in PDCS research, offering theoretical insights and practical references for advancing collaborative governance and supporting the sustainable development of PDCS.