Culturally responsive AI for heritage preservation and digital literacy among faculty at Hail University

Abstract This study investigated how cultural and educational values translate into faculty adoption intentions for culturally-responsive artificial intelligence systems at Hail University in Saudi Arabia. Integrating Cultural Capital Theory, Funds of Knowledge Theory, the Digital Competence Framework, and the Technology Acceptance Model, we tested a comprehensive structural model with 170 faculty members using partial least squares structural equation modeling. The model explained 90.3% of the variance in adoption intentions (R 2 = 0.903), revealing that cultural heritage preservation and global citizenship education influence adoption primarily through indirect pathways rather than direct effects. Cultural heritage preservation demonstrated an exceptionally strong effect on digital literacy development (β = 0.857, p < .001), substantially exceeding typical technology adoption effect sizes, with 82.9% of its total influence operating through operational mechanisms—primarily digital literacy development (60.8%) and inclusive cultural participation (22.5%). Global citizenship education operated entirely through indirect pathways (77.5% mediated), with inclusive cultural participation as the dominant mechanism (56.5%). Digital literacy development and inclusive cultural participation emerged as comparably strong direct adoption drivers (β = 0.456 and β = 0.356, respectively), indicating that in culturally distinctive educational contexts, adoption reflects integrated pragmatic and value-based reasoning rather than pragmatic concerns alone. These findings demonstrate that abstract values require translation through situation-specific capabilities and inclusive practices to influence concrete technology adoption decisions. For implementation, institutions should employ dual messaging strategies calibrated to faculty value orientations—emphasizing digital skills development for culturally preservation-oriented faculty and inclusive participation features for global citizenship-oriented faculty—rather than assuming uniform adoption drivers across faculty populations. By aligning culturally-responsive AI with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, the study contributes to SDG 4 (Quality Education) through faculty digital literacy and inclusive learning, SDG 11.4 (safeguarding cultural and natural heritage), SDG 9 (innovation in digital infrastructure), and SDG 10 (reduced inequalities in cultural representation), and links Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 priorities to a globally relevant agenda for sustainable, culturally grounded higher-education transformation.