What Factors Impact Visitors’ Intentions to Use Location-Based AR Games? An Empirical Study from Chinese Cultural Heritage Sites

Abstract

Location-based AR games have been discussed as a promising means of providing visitors with meaningful experiences at cultural heritage sites, with great potential to enhance users’ positive emotions and well-being. This research created a conceptual model to empirically evaluate the impact of location-based AR games on the experiential intentions of cultural heritage sites based on the broaden-and-build theory of positive emotions. The model was empirically validated using confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and tested using structural equation modeling (SEM) on 260 visitors who had played location-based AR games at several Chinese cultural heritage sites. The results suggested that visitors’ positive emotions (fulfillment, enjoyment, and self-existence) in location-based AR games positively impact the intention to use location-based AR games. Further, this study demonstrated that competence, relatedness, immersion, presence, interaction existence, emotional existence, and social existence significantly impact tourists’ positive emotional experience. The findings of this study help to complement the application of positive-affect expansion and building theory to the field of cultural heritage research while providing practical insights into the experience of cultural heritage sites.