The Double-Edged Sword of Digital Transformation in Cultural Scenic Areas: Heterogeneous Moderation of Qilu Cultural Genes on Technology-Value Conversion Paths

Abstract

How can cultural attractions that invest similarly in digital technologies arrive at such different outcomes? We address this question by turning to regional culture. Grounded in dynamic capabilities theory and service-dominant logic, this study investigates how Qilu cultural genes, a regional cultural tradition rooted in Shandong Province, conditions the conversion of digital initiatives into value. Hypotheses were tested with PLS-SEM on visitor-level survey data from 566 visitors across ten cultural attractions in Shandong, China, with supply-side assessments from 28 managers aggregated to the scenic-area level. The results show that Qilu cultural heritage neither simply promotes nor obstructs digital transformation. Rather, it works like a selective lens, strengthening technological pathways that carry cultural meaning and weakening those that lack it. Among the three conversion paths examined, experience-activated digitalisation contributes most to visitors' digital value co-creation capability, and the slope of this path increases by 48.2% when visitors score one standard deviation above the mean on Qilu cultural gene strength. Infrastructure-focused digitalisation, the second most effective path on average, sees its conversion efficiency drop by 38.1% at the same high level of gene strength. By comparison, the ecosystem-based path shows no such cultural dependence. Taken together, these findings reveal that a single cultural tradition can simultaneously enable and constrain digital transformation. For managers, the implication is clear. Digital investment should be tailored to visitors' cultural profiles rather than spread uniformly across all initiatives.