Against the backdrop of accelerating global urbanization and the deep integration of the tourism industry, urban cultural landscapes have emerged as core carriers for shaping and conveying historical memory and cultural identity. The authenticity of u...
Against the backdrop of accelerating global urbanization and the deep integration of the tourism industry, urban cultural landscapes have emerged as core carriers for shaping and conveying historical memory and cultural identity. The authenticity of urban cultural landscapes plays a critical role in influencing tourists’ cognitive judgments, emotional outcomes—particularly subjective well-being—and behavioral intentions. From the perspectives of cultural landscape theory and placeness, authenticity is regarded as a key factor that stimulates meaning-making processes and emotional resonance with places, thereby forming the foundation for place meaning and emotional bonding. Building on these theoretical discussions, this study aims to examine the structural mechanisms through which the authenticity of urban cultural landscapes affects tourists’ psychological and behavioral responses.
To this end, this study integrates the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) with a cognition–emotion–behavior framework to construct a structural research model incorporating both mediating and moderating effects. Specifically, the study investigates the mediating role of cognitive evaluation—operationalized through the TPB components of attitude, subjective norm, and perceived behavioral control—in linking perceived authenticity to the emotional outcome variable of subjective well-being (SWB), which in turn leads to revisit intention. In addition, the study examines whether place attachment moderates the relationships between TPB-based cognitive evaluation, subjective well-being, and revisit intention within this structural framework.
An empirical investigation was conducted across five representative urban cultural landscapes in China: the Vajra Throne Sarira Pagoda in Hohhot, Tiananmen Square in Beijing, Tianjin Tower, Jiefangbei in Chongqing, and the Shijiazhuang Art Center. A total of 682 valid questionnaires were collected through an on-site survey. Structural equation modeling was employed to assess reliability, validity, and model fit, while path analysis and moderation analysis using PROCESS Macro were conducted to test the hypothesized relationships.
The results reveal that both objective authenticity and existential authenticity exert significant positive effects on all three TPB cognitive components. Furthermore, TPB variables indirectly influence revisit intention through the mediating role of subjective well-being, with perceived behavioral control demonstrating the strongest effect. In addition, place attachment exhibits a significant positive moderating effect on the relationships between TPB variables, subjective well-being, and revisit intention, indicating that higher levels of emotional bonding with a place strengthen the translation of cognitive evaluation into emotional and behavioral outcomes.
Theoretically, this study refines the dual-dimensional mechanism of urban cultural landscape authenticity, extends the Theory of Planned Behavior by incorporating subjective well-being as a key emotional outcome within a cognition–emotion–behavior framework, and empirically elucidates the moderating role of place attachment, thereby expanding the theoretical scope of destination loyalty research. Practically, the findings suggest the importance of balancing objective conservation with experiential design in urban cultural landscape management, enhancing tourists’ cognitive evaluation processes to promote well-being, and implementing relationship-oriented strategies that foster place attachment.
This study is subject to limitations related to the scope of the sample and the use of self-reported measures. Future research is encouraged to extend the model across diverse types of cultural landscapes and cultural contexts to further examine its generalizability and dynamic applicability.