Cultural Museums in the Virtual Realm: How Virtual Museum Visiting Experiences Facilitate On-Site Travel Intention

While virtual museums are recognized as effective marketing tools, existing research has largely overlooked the specific challenges faced by cultural museums. Based on cultural identity theory and cognitive-emotional-behavioral theory, this study investigates how virtual museum visiting experiences facilitate visitors’ on-site travel intention within a cultural museum context, through the mediation of cultural identity and virtual attachment. Furthermore, it analyzes three antecedent variables – content, system, and interaction quality – to extract six experience dimensions (entertainment, education, aesthetics, novelty, autonomy, and human-computer interaction), offering a more systematic classification of virtual engagement.virtual museum engagement. Using PLS-SEM with 416 valid responses, findings reveal: (1) virtual experiences can be assessed across six dimensions to predict on-site travel intention; (2) all six dimensions significantly promote on-site travel intention; (3) cultural identity and virtual attachment serve as mediators, with a serial mediation effect. This study constructs a tailored psychological framework for cultural museums, emphasizing cultural attributes and providing new insights into virtual museums as promotion instruments. These insights can assist cultural museum practitioners in optimizing virtual engagement strategies and strengthening the continuity between digital experiences and physical cultural heritage exploration.