VR Quality and Post-Use Engagement Intentions: The Roles of Cultural Trust and Cultural Experience in Beijing Heritage Tourism

Beijing’s protected heritage resources create a strong need for digitally mediated access that does not increase physical pressure on heritage sites. Drawing on the Information Systems Success Model and the experience economy perspective, this study examines associations among virtual reality (VR) information, system, and service quality; cultural trust; cultural experience; satisfaction; and post-use engagement intentions. Survey data from 620 tourists who had used Beijing-related VR cultural tourism services were analyzed using structural equation modeling. The three quality dimensions showed distinct association patterns. Service quality had the largest standardized coefficient with cultural trust, whereas information quality had the largest standardized coefficient with cultural experience. Cultural trust and cultural experience were both associated with satisfaction and post-use engagement intentions, and cultural experience showed a numerically larger coefficient with engagement intentions than cultural trust. These coefficient comparisons are descriptive rather than formal tests of differences. The findings indicate that the post-use value of VR heritage services is associated not only with perceived digital quality but also with distinct credibility-related and meaning-related evaluations of the cultural experience.