ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Psychol.
Sec. Cultural Psychology
Understanding participation psychology in rural cultural activities: internal and external drivers toward regional cultural sustainability
Provisionally accepted
- University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, China
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Introduction: Cultural sustainability is recognized as the "fourth dimension" within the framework of sustainable development and has increasingly attracted attention from both academics and policymakers. Cultural activities serve as essential means for cultural expression and heritage preservation, playing a vital role in maintaining regional cultural sustainability. This study focuses on the psychology of participation in rural cultural activities, exploring both the internal and external driving mechanisms and action pathways to address the challenges of low participation rates and high demands for heritage preservation. Methods: This study takes Shatan Village in Guizhou, China as a case study, collects 158 valid samples through on-site questionnaire, uses SPSS and AMOS software for quantitative analysis, constructs a structural equation model (SEM) to examine the relationship between each variable and the moderating effect of government support. Results: The study found that the residents' intention has a significant positive impact on actual participation behavior; cultural subjective norms have a significant positive effect on participation intention, while cultural attitudes and perceived behavioral control do not have significant effect on participation intention. Additionally, Government support acts as a moderating factor in the relationship between cultural attitudes, perceived behavioral control and participation intention at different levels, but has no significant moderating effect on the relationship between subjective norms and participation intention. Discussion: This study illustrates that regional cultural sustainability involves not only the protection of cultural resources but also the ongoing stimulation of residents' internal psychological motivation. To effectively enhance enthusiasm for participation in cultural activities, it is essential to consider the interactions between individual cognition, social norms and institutional support. The research results provide a reference for shifting regional cultural inheritance from "passive acceptance" to "active creation" in different cultural contexts worldwide.
Keywords: regional cultural, rural cultural activities, Cultural Sustainability, participationpsychology, Driving Mechanisms
Received: 19 Aug 2025; Accepted: 30 Oct 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Zou, Peng and Han. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Hong Han, hanhong@uestc.edu.cn
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