Introduction

With the continuous innovation and advancement of cutting-edge technologies such as virtual reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR), These technologies are increasingly being used in fields such as tourism, entertainment, and education1,2. In terms of museums, the application of VR/AR technology has changed traditional exhibition methods, making museum exhibitions more vivid and interesting. On the one hand, some museums use these new technologies to restore cultural heritage3,4, historical scenes, disappearing species, and so on, allowing people to perceive history and experience science in a new way5,6. For example, AR technology used to ““resurrect”dinosaur fossils of the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History in the United States. Moreover, some museum built digital museums based on VR and other technologies, such as the Palace Museum Digital Museum and Dunhuang Digital Museum in the China, which not only achieve the goal of protecting cultural relics, but also break the limitations of museum time and space, attracting more people to learn about museum culture. VR/AR technology has become a pivotal means of augmenting educational efficacy within the museum field. A growing number of museums have committed substantial financial resources to the development or introduction of novel VR or AR projects. Given this, museum administrators place significant emphasis on both the educational outcomes of these initiatives and the extent to which VR or AR projects can shape the personal conduct and norms of museum visitors.

Most VR/AR technology in museum tourism research focused on views on museum design AR projects7,8,9, tourist experience4,6,10,11,12,13,14 and perceived value12,15 of museum VR/AR projects, only limited studies paid attention to the relationship between VR/AR technology, personal norms and behavior intentions of museum visitors. Although some studies have already identified the positive effects of VR/AR technology in the areas of environmental education and sustainable education. For example, Negi16 believed that VR and AR technologies provided immersive and engaging learning experiences, and Immersive technologies regularly raise environmental awareness and encourage beneficial behaviour. Elsamen et al.17 proposed that AR can also contribute to a more immersive and engaging experience for tourists, thereby assisting them in making more environmentally friendly and productive decisions under certain conditions or following specific courses of action, ultimately increasing their environmental value. However, few scholars have paid attention to the impact of VR/AR technology on personal norms and behavioral intentions in the museum field.

The normative activation theory (NAT) has been widely applied to explain individual altruistic behavior, and which has strong explanatory power in explaining environmental responsibility behavior. Some scholars have applied NAT theory to explain tourists’ pro-environmental behavior or behavioral intentions during on-site tourism18,19, but few scholars have used this theory to explain tourists’ behavioral intentions in virtual tourism project scenarios. This study innovatively applies NAT theory to explain the impact of AR projects in museums on visitors’ pro-environmental behavior intentions, and organically integrates attitude factors with this theory.

Therefore, the aim of this paper is to examine whether the impact of AR technology on the pro-environmental behaviour intentions of museum visitors. The research objectives are as follows: first, to examine whether the high level of presence and flow experience by AR technology affects visitors’ attitudes and thus their pro-environmental intentions; Second, to explore whether NAT explain the impact of museum AR projects on tourists’ pro-environmental behavior intentions; Third, incorporate the attitude factor into the NAT to construct a new theoretical conceptual model.

This study makes the following theoretical contributions. It proposes a new conceptual model based on the integrated NAT theory and the stimulus organism response theory (SOR) as the research framework. The technology factors in AR projects, namely presence and immersion experience, are taken as external stimuli (S), awareness of consequences, ascribed responsibility, personal norms, and attitudes are taken as organic factors (O), and visitors’ pro-environmental behaviour intention as response factors (R). And this study proposes three causal chains, that is presence or immersion experience (S) - attitude (O) - behavioral intention (R), and awareness of consequences-ascribed responsibility-personal norms- behavioral intention, and awareness of consequences - attitude - behavioral intention. The paper verifies the causal relationship between research variables and the new conceptual model proposed, by taking the AR project of the Marine Animal Museum in Guangdong Museum as an example.The remainder of this study is organized as follows. Part 2 reviews the literature related to the normative activation theory, theory of planned behaviour, stimulus organism response paradigm, VR/AR technology and museum tourism, and Research hypotheses. In addition, a theoretical research framework is proposed based on the above research foundation. Then, Part 3 is the research design, which focuses on the description of the research methods, and Part 4 presents the process of analyzing and testing, as well as the research results. Finally, Part 5 is the conclusions and implications, which focuses on the research conclusions and practical implications, followed by the research limitations and further research directions.

Literature review

VR/AR technology and museum tourism

On VR/AR technology and museum tourism, existing research has mainly focused on three aspects. Firstly, stakeholders have different views on museum design AR projects, such as analyzing the needs of tourists for museum AR projects7, comparing the differences between the intentions of museum AR project designers and the real experiences of tourists8, expert opinions on the advantages of museum AR projects9.

Secondly, some scholars have conducted research on the tourist experience of museum VR/AR projects, and most conclusions agree that these new technologies enhance the tourist experiences4,6,10. For example, Fenu & Pittarello found that the AR application facilitated the enrichment of the sensory and emotional engagement of the audience, by involving the use of sight and hearing to communicate and enjoy the museum11. However, few scholars have also pointed out that there are certain differences in tourist experiences for the same museum VR/AR project. Errichiello et al. revealed that three clusters were identified: enthusiasts, moderates, and sceptics based on their different attitudes and perceptions towards the VR technology-mediated experience12. Furthermore, museum VR/AR project tourist experience positively influences tourist satisfaction10, and behavioral intention4,13,14.

Thirdly, Previous studies have found that VR/AR technology enhances the perceived value of museum visitors. Errichiello et al. reported that visitors recognized the added value of the wearable VR application for their on-site experience, especially in terms of usefulness and learning opportunities12. Serravalle et al. proposed that stakeholders could co-create value in museums through the use of AR technology, such as historical and cultural value of AR, educational value of AR15.

Normative activation theory

NAM is a social psychology theory proposed by Schwartz in 197720. This theory focuses on the relationship between personal norms and behaviour and is widely used to explain and predict various altruistic behaviours in society21,22, especially in the field of environmental protection behaviour23,24,25.

NAM suggests that awareness of consequence refers to the awareness of individuals who do not engage in altruistic behaviour and cause adverse consequences for others20. Ascribed responsibility refers to an individual’s sense of responsibility for the negative consequences of not implementing altruistic behaviour26. Within the NAM framework, the cognitive concepts of these beliefs activate individuals’ moral norms27. This moral norm, also known as personal norms or subjective norms by some scholars, refers to an individual’s personal moral sense of whether to engage in altruistic behaviour28 and is the most direct driving factor affecting altruistic behaviour. Personal norms are primarily influenced by two factors: awareness of consequences, and ascribed responsibility29.

Scholars have different views on the relationships among the main variables in the NAM. Some researchers believe that NAM is a mediation model; that is, awareness of consequences affects ascribed responsibility, ascribed responsibility affects behaviour intentions through personal norms26,30,31. Other research findings suggest that awareness of consequences, and ascribed responsibility regulate the relationship between personal norms and altruistic behaviour; therefore, NAM tends to be a modulating model32,33.

Some scholars have discovered that there is a causal relationship among VR/AR technology, attitude, and behavioral intention. Alyahya & McLean34 demonstrated that VR plays a positive role in enhancing consumers’ pre-existing attitudes towards a tourist destination. Their findings indicate that, compared with the low-level sensory VR experience, tourism consumers’ attitudes towards the destination have a more significant impact on visit intentions in both high - and mid-level sensory VR experiences. Moreover, some scholars have integrated AR technology, attitude factors, and the Norm Activation Theory to study tourists’ pro-environmental behavior. Elsamen et al.17 surveyed Expo 2020 visitors who had used Augmented Reality (AR) during their experience. They found that tourists’ environmental values and sensitivity enhance their responsibility aspirations. Additionally, awareness of tourism’s negative environmental impacts and mitigation knowledge respectively moderate the effects of responsibility aspirations on personal norms and pro-environmental behavior, while personal norms mediate the relationship between responsibility aspirations and pro-environmental behavior.

Theory of planned behaviour

Ajzen proposed the theory of planned behaviour (TPB) in 1985, an extension of the theory of reasoned action35. This theory suggests that behaviour attitudes, subjective norms, and perceived behavioural control are important variables that explain an individual’s behavioural willingness and actual behaviour36. The TPB has gradually become an important fundamental theory for studying individual behaviour and provides theoretical support for individual behaviour decision-making.

Some studies have applied TPB to explain household energy-saving behaviour37, social responsibility behaviour38,39, green consumption behaviour40,41 and so on, concluding that TPB has good predictive and explanatory power in the field of sustainable development. Tourism research scholars have applied the TPB to explore tourists’ environmental responsibility behaviour42,43, pro-environment behaviour44,45, and environmentally friendly behaviour46.

Stimulus organism response paradigm

The stimulus organism response (SOR) paradigm, proposed by Mehrabian and Russell in 1974, is based on the stimulus response Paradigm and primarily explains human behaviour. This theory emphasises that stimulation (S) received by an individual contributes to the development of an internal organism (O), which, in turn, triggers a subsequent response (R). It clearly explains the mechanism by which stimuli affect individual behaviour, including object stimuli and social psychological stimuli47. Stimulation forms an individual’s cognitive and emotional state, which, in turn, leads to behavioural responses to proximity or avoidance48.

Some researchers explain consumer behaviour and tourist behaviour using SOR theory. This theory suggests that stimuli affect internal emotional evaluations, resulting in customer closeness and avoidance reactions49. Stimuli are environmental factors that individuals encounter at specific moments, and an organism is described as a field in which people subconsciously or consciously process stimuli. In previous studies, the organism has been expressed more as a cognitive and emotional response to stimuli, such as perceived quality or perceived utility value50, and the psychological or cognitive state of the organism51 but response refers to various observable behavioural responses to stimuli and cognition52.

Wu & Wang53 employes SOR model to study the relationship AI-enhanced virtual tourism and pro-environmental behavior in cultural heritage tourism. the study regards accessibility, authenticity perceptions, perceived costs, interactive experiences, and knowledge acquisition as five stimuli, examine how five stimuli affect tourists’ attitudes toward AI-enhanced virtual tourism and, consequently, their environmental behaviors. their study found that five stimuli significantly influence tourists’ attitude, which further influences pro-environmental behavior. Therefore, basing on research results of Wu & Wang53 and Elsamen et al.17, this study considers the presence, flow experience of museum visitors in AR projects as stimulus factors (S); awareness of consequences, ascribed responsibility, personal norms, behaviour attitudes as organic factors (O); and visitors’ pro-environmental behaviour intention as response factors (R), and explores the impact of presence, flow experience on visitors’ pro-environmental behaviour intention in AR technology.

Research hypotheses

Presence, flow experience, and attitude

The presence is an important indicator of the quality of VR technology54,55. Scholars have slightly different definitions of presence, but most scholars agree that presence is a subjective perception of tourists in a virtual environment56,57,58. Lee believed that presence involves social presence, personal presence, and spatial presence59. In this study, presence refers to the tourists’ spatial presence in a virtual environment.

In a virtual environment, tourists’ perceived presence positively affects their behaviour attitudes. Tussyadiah et al. found that the presence of virtual environments affects behaviour attitudes and behaviour intention60. That is, the presence of VR experiences positively affects tourists’ behaviour attitudes towards destination VR, which, in turn, positively affects their intention to visit the destination. In the VR virtual roller coaster experience, Wei et al. conducted presence had a positive impact on tourists’ overall satisfaction, and revisiting and recommendation intentions towards the theme park61. Alyahya and McLean demonstrated that VR plays a positive role in enhancing previous consumer behaviour attitudes towards tourism destinations34. Different levels of sensory information in VR experiences lead to significant differences in developmental psychological imagery, presence, behaviour attitudes towards destinations, and visit intentions. Leopardi et al. compared the visitor experience of museum visitors using five different virtual museum technologiesand found that presence and visitor virtual experience are antecedents of behaviour attitudes5. Therefore, we propose the following hypothesis:

H1

The presence of visitors in AR tourism projects has a significant positive impact on their attitudes towards pro-environmental behaviour.

Flow originated from the psychological flow theory and represents a specific psychological state. Flow defined as a subjective optimal experience, or an ecstasy state, lived by individuals during events or tasks while being performed62. In the tourism -related field, flow experience can be described as a subjective experience lived by individuals during events or tasks being performed, and is often associated with delight, enjoyment and loss of control63. In a virtual environment, the closer an object or environment simulation is to reality, the better tourists’ flow experience64.

Related studies have shown that immersive user experiences positively affect behaviour attitudes in virtual environments. Huang et al. found that flow experience in a 3D virtual world had a significant positive impact on college students’ behaviour attitudes towards online learning65. Students’ sense of participation and the quality of enjoyable experiences in the virtual world are influenced by three factors: the ability to solve challenging tasks, perception of interactivity in the virtual learning experience, and the degree of presence perceived by students. Aodríoguez-Ardur and Meseguer-Artola analysed the flow experience of m-Facebook users from both theoretical and empirical perspectives as well as their emotional and behavioural influences. The results showed that the flow experience of m-Facebook users affected their personal behaviour by influencing their behaviour attitudes towards m-Facebook66. Therefore, this study proposes the following hypothesis:

H2

The flow experiencess of visitors in AR tourism projects has a significant positive impact on their attitudes towards pro-environmental behaviour.

Awareness of consequences, ascribed responsibility, personal norms, and behavioural intentions

Tourists’ pro-environmental behaviour is consistent with the causal chain of " awareness of consequences- ascribed responsibility-personal norms-behaviour intention” in NAM. For example, Han et al. found that museum visitors’ awareness positively affects their ascribed responsibility, which positively influences moral norms and, in turn, positively affects tourists’ intent to protect the environment67. Gao et al. also drew the similar conclusions19. Shin et al. showed that personal norms are one of the driving forces for consumers to choose organic menus, and that consumers’ awareness of consequences positively affects their ascribed responsibility, which also positively affects their personal norms68.

Some scholars have combined the extended NAM with other theories to jointly explain tourists’ pro-environmental behaviour intention. Kiatkawsin and Han integrated value-belief-norm theory and expectation theory and found that the awareness of consequences of young Korean travellers positively influences ascribed responsibility69. Ascribed responsibility positively affects pro-environmental personal norms, which, in turn, affect pro-environmental behaviour intention. Ritchie et al. used an extended NAM to study tourists’ views on the intervention and protection of the Great Barrier Reef in Australia70. They found that the establishment, internalisation, and activation of personal norms are core elements affecting altruistic behaviour, whereas awareness of consequences and ascribed responsibility positively affect personal norms formation. Few scholars are concerned about the relationship between AR technology, personal norms, and tourists’ pro-environmental behavior. Elsamen et al.17 found tourists’ environmental value and environmental sensitivity positively affects their aspiration of responsibility towards the environment by surveyed 1506 AR participants. Awareness of tourism’s negative environment and mitigation knowledge moderate the effects of responsibility aspirations on personal norms and pro-environmental behavior, respectively, while personal norms mediate the relationship between responsibility aspirations and pro-environmental behavior. Therefore, this study proposes the following hypotheses:

H3

In AR tourism projects, visitors’ awareness of consequences has a significant and positive impact on their ascribed responsibility.

H4

Visitors’ ascribed responsibility has a significant positive influence on personal norms in AR tourism projects.

H5

Visitors’ personal norms in AR tourism projects have a significant positive impact on their pro-environmental behaviour intention.

Awareness of consequences, attitudes, and behavioural intentions

Some scholars have integrated NAM and TPB theories to study people’s pro-environmental behaviour or other pro-social behaviours and have found that awareness of consequences positively affects behaviour attitudes. For example, Wang et al.69 found that the low-carbon emission reduction behaviour of the public is a result of double drivers: rationality and morality, subjective norms, perceptual behaviour control, awareness of consequences, ascribed responsibility, and personal norms positively affect the low-carbon emission reduction behaviour intention of the public, thereby affecting the public’s low-carbon emission reduction behaviour71. Subjective norms have the greatest impact on behaviour intention, and awareness of consequences positively affects public behaviour attitudes towards low-carbon emissions reduction behaviour.

Tourism research has also confirmed the causal relationship between awareness of consequences and attitudes. By studying volunteer tourists’ intentions, Meng et al. discovered that problem awareness affects ascribed responsibility, which, in turn, affects their altruistic behaviour intention72. In addition, problem awareness positively affected behaviour attitudes, subjective norms, and perceived behavioural control. The problem awareness of volunteer tourists affects their travel behaviour intention through behaviour attitudes. Ritchie et al. found that personal norms were the largest and most direct factor influencing intervention support, followed by behaviour attitudes70. Consequently, awareness of consequences has a significant positive impact on tourists’ behaviour attitudes towards technological intervention.

Compared to traditional learning methods, AR-based learning methods are also effective ways. Bhang & Huh73 showed that AR-based environmental education on fine dust increase students’awareness of the seriousness of fine dust and attitudes. Alahmari et al.74 found that the use of Augmented Reality in higher education has positional environmental and economic sustainability benefits. Therefore, the paper proposes the following hypothesis:

H6

In AR tourism projects, visitors’ awareness of consequences has a significant positive impact on their pro-environmental attitudes.

Previous studies have shown that tourists’ behaviour attitudes positively affect their behaviour intention. Huang and Hau found that Beijing tourists’ behaviour attitudes towards future visits to Hong Kong had a significant impact on behavior intention and played an important mediating role between overall satisfaction and willingness to revisit75. Phillips et al. indicated that consumers’ behaviour attitudes significantly affect their behaviour intention to visit and taste Korean cuisine76. Kim and Hwang proposed that consumers’ behaviour attitudes towards environmental protection in the context of robot food delivery services have a positive impact on their pro-environmental behaviour intention77. Ling et al. highlighted that behaviour attitudes have a strong direct impact on tourists’ heritage responsibility behaviour, which can greatly predict the occurrence of tourists’ heritage responsibility behaviour78.

Few scholars have focused on the causal relationship between tourist behaviour attitudes and behaviour intention in virtual environments. For example, Tussyadiah et al. indicated that tourists’ behaviour attitudes positively impacted their willingness to visit a destination after experiencing virtual projects60. Li et al. found that tourists’ behaviour attitudes towards virtual tourism can significantly and positively affect their behaviour intention to travel to a real destination79. Wu & Wang53 confirmed that accessibility, authenticity perceptions, interactivity, and knowledge acquisition in AI-enhanced virtual tourism significantly influence tourists’ attitude, which further influences pro-environmental behavior in cultural heritage tourism. Therefore, the following hypothesis was proposed:

H7

In AR tourism projects, visitors’ attitudes have a significant positive impact on their pro-environmental behavioural intentions.

Tourists’ awareness of consequences influences their pro-environmental behaviour intention through behaviour attitudes. Ritchie et al. found that tourists’ behaviour attitudes towards the intervention and protection of the Great Barrier Reef have a mediating effect on awareness of consequences and support for intervention and protection behaviour in Australia70. Huang et al. showed that tourists’ behaviour attitudes towards carbon offsets mediate the relationship between awareness of the outcome and willingness to pay80. The study proposes the following hypothesis:

H8

In AR tourism projects, visitors’ pro-environmental attitudes mediate awareness of consequences and behavioural intentions.

Fig. 1
figure 1

Conceptual model.

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Research methods

Survey questionnaire

As our research does not directly involve the human body, our research has been exempted from ethics by the School of Tourism and Exhibition of Hefei University.

Our research has obtained the informed consent of all participants. First of all, before distributing questionnaires to tourists, we will ask tourists if they are willing to accept the survey, and then we will send questionnaires to tourists after getting a positive answer. At the same time, underage tourists have not only obtained their informed consent, but also obtained the consent of their guardians. Secondly, the purpose of the survey was explained to the respondents before starting the questionnaire. Finally, tourists can agree or disagree at any link in this process, and all tourists who participated in the survey received informed consent.

All research methods are conducted in accordance with relevant guidelines and regulations, including those pertaining to data collection and analysis.

This study used a self-administered questionnaire to collect data. The questionnaire comprised three parts. The first part involved a survey of the tourists’ presence, flow experience, and behaviour attitudes. Based on the synthesis of existing relevant literature, this study measured presence and flow experience using four measurement items each and used five measurement items for behaviour attitudes. The second part measured tourists’ awareness of consequences, ascribed responsibility, personal norms and behaviour intention. These four variables were measured using a maturity scale, which includes a total of 14 measurement items. The variables and literature sources used for these two parts are presented in Table 1. The parts one and two were measured using a five-point Likert scale, which assigned values of 1–5 points for strongly disagree, disagree, neutral, agree, and strongly agree, respectively. Tourists then scored their opinions. Part three was a survey of tourist demographic information, including sex, age, occupation, monthly income, and educational level.

Table 1 Scale items and sources.
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Data collection and analysis

This study collected data through a self-administered questionnaire. The investigation lasted for one week, from 27 December 2022 to 3 January 2023. The survey was conducted at the exit of AR project of the Marine Animal Museum in Guangdong Museum, and the researchers randomly sampled visitors who had experienced the project. Visitors who agree to fill out the questionnaire scan WeChat code and finish survey. A total of 406 questionnaires were sent out and 401 valid questionnaires were obtained by eliminating random or incorrect responses, with an effective recovery rate of 98.77%.

In total, 54.36% of the study respondents were female, and 57.11% were under 25 years old, followed by 32.42% of the ages of 25 and 35. 68.08% of the respondents held a bachelor’s degree. Students accounted for 28.68% of the samples, follow by enterprise employees (22.94%). 26.68% of the study respondents’monthly income were under ¥ 3000 yuan; 52.87% of samples come from Guangzhou. Table 2 presents the demographic information. The data analysis primarily involved confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and structural equation model (SEM) analysis using AMOS 24.0.

Table 2 Descriptive analysis results for samples(n = 401).
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Research results

Validity analysis

CFA was used to test the validity of the survey questionnaire. The results showed that the factor loading of each variable was greater than 0.5, the combined reliability (CR) exceeded 0.7, and the average variance extraction (AVE) values were higher than 0.5, indicating that the survey questionnaire had good convergent validity, as shown in Table 3. The AVE square root values of all variables in this study were greater than the correlation coefficients between the other variables, indicating that the questionnaire had good discriminant validity83, as shown in Table 4.

Table 3 Results of the convergent validity test.
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Table 4 Results of the discriminant validity test.
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Hypothesis testing

SEM was used to test the causal relationships between the research variables. The maximum likelihood method was used to analyse the sample data, and the fitting indicators of the model were GFI = 0.852 and AGFI = 0.822, both of which were within acceptable ranges. CFI = 0.959, IFI = 0.959, CMIN/DF = 2.903, and RMSEA = 0.069, all of which fit well, indicating that the model had good adaptability to the survey data.

This study performed a significance analysis of all paths of the conceptual model, and the results are shown in Table 5. Museum visitors’ presence and flow experience during AR tourism have no significant positive impact on their attitudes towards environmental behaviour, and H1 and H2 are rejected. In AR tourism, the awareness of consequences of museum visitors significantly positively affects their ascribed responsibility (β = 0.985, P < 0.001), the ascribed responsibility of tourists has a significant positive impact on their personal norms (β = 0.968, P < 0.001), and personal norms positively affect visitors’ pro-environmental behaviour intention (β = 0.279, P < 0.001), and H3, H4, and H5 are supported. In AR tourism, the awareness of consequences of museum visitors has a significant positive impact on their attitudes of pro-environment behaviour (β = 0.719, P < 0.001), and H6 is supported; Visitors’ attitudes have a significant positive impact on their pro-environmental behaviour intention (β = 0.771, P < 0.001), and H7 is supported.

Table 5 Results of hypothesis testing(n = 401).
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Mediating effect test

Bootstrapping was used to test the mediating effects of behaviour attitudes on awareness of consequences and behaviour intention. The test was conducted with awareness of consequences as the independent variable, behaviour intention as the dependent variable, and behaviour attitudes as the mediating variable. The results showed that the confidence interval range from 0.452 to 0.671 for the indirect effect of awareness of consequences on personal norms did not include 0, indicating the existence of mediating effects (β = 0.560), and the confidence interval range from 0.151 to 0.360 for direct effects does not include 0, indicating significant direct effects (β = 0.3089). Thus, behaviour attitudes have a partial mediating effect on awareness of consequences and behaviour intention, supporting H8. The details are listed in Table 6.

Table 6 Results of mediating effect test.
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Conclusions and implications

Conclusions

Taking the AR project of the Marine Animal Branch in the Guangdong Museum as an example, this study mainly investigates the impact of AR technologies on attitudes, personal norms, and pro-environmental behavioral intentions. The study concludes the following findings: the awareness of consequence of museum visitors positively affects personal norms through ascribed responsibility(H3-H4), and personal norms positively affect pro-environmental behavioural intentions(H5). Personal norms are a direct factor affecting the museum visitors’ pro-environmental behavioural intentions. The study also discovered that awareness of consciousness of museum visitors positively influences attitudes H6 which positively affect museum visitors’ pro-environmental behavioural intentions(H7), and attitudes have a partial mediating effect on awareness of consequences and behaviour intention(H8).

The theoretical contributions of this study are mainly reflected in the following aspects:

  • Firstly, this study proposes a new theoretical framework. Previous studies have mainly used NAT theory or the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB)42,43,44,45,46to explain tourists’ environmental protection behavior, while these theories mainly focus on the influence of internal factors on individuals and relatively ignore the influence of external factors on individual behavior. This study uses SOR theory as the theoretical framework and VR/AR technology as external environmental stimuli to explore the combined effects of internal factors and external environmental stimuli on individual behavior. By integrating NAT into the SOR framework, this study provides a more holistic understanding of how new technology projects (for example AR project) can influence behaviour intentions in the context of museum and cultural heritage.

  • Secondly, this study expands the application scope of NAT theory. This study found that the use of AR projects in museums promotes visitors’ awareness of consequences and ascribed responsibility, which in turn affects personal norms. Personal norms directly affect pro-environment behaviour intention of museum visitors. This conclusion is consistent with the findings of some scholars (Han et al.67, Kiatkawsin & Han69, Ritchie et al.70, Meng et al.72) and further confirms the causal chain of awareness of consequences-ascribed responsibility-personal norms-behaviour intention. At the same time, the conclusion of this study indicates that NAT theory can effectively explain the indirect impact of museum AR projects on visitors’ personal norms, and fully demonstrates that new technologies have enhanced the educational role of museums, expanding the explanatory power of this theory in the field of museums.

  • Thirdly, this study enriches the theoretical model by incorporating attitude factors into the NAT. It is confirmed that AR technology has a positive impact on visitors’ attitudes and pro-environmental behavior intentions. In other words, attitudes are antecedents to behavior intentions58. This study further concludes that attitudes can mediate the relationship between awareness of consequences and pro-environmental behavior intention, which is largely in line with the findings of Ritchie et al.70 and Huang et al.80. By integrating attitude factors with the NAT, this study constructs a more comprehensive theoretical framework. The integration of the Norm Activation Theory with attitudinal elements enables a more holistic understanding of the motivational and normative mechanisms that shape tourists’ pro-environmental behavior20. Moreover, the exploration of personal norms and pro-environmental behavior in this study validates these theoretical relationships within the context of museum tourism.

  • Fourthly, museum visitors’ presence and flow experience during AR tourism have no significant positive impact on their attitudes towards environmental behaviour. The main reason for the rejection of these two hypotheses may be related to the museum AR project. Alyahya & McLean34 affirms that different levels of sensory stimuli in a VR destination experience engages consumers’ senses, their attitudes, and behavioral intentions with different levels of significance. The AR project of the Marine Animal Branch in the Guangdong Museum only uses AR glasses, and the level of tourist experience is relatively low. Future research can compare the impact of different VR/AR projects’ visitor experiences on attitudes and behavioral intentions in museums.

Practical implications

Enhancing visitors’ sense of presence and flow experience by strengthening the application of new technologies. Generally, the stronger the tourists’ presence and flow experience in VR/AR tourism projects, the more positive their attitudes towards environmental protection. Therefore, when museums or similar scenic spots plan and design AR projects or similar projects, managers should fully understand the advantages of new technology projects and consider tourists’ experience needs to realistically display the interaction among humans, the virtual world, and the real world. For example, the Dunhuang Museum collaborated with Tencent to develop the “Explore Dunhuang” VR project, where visitors can interact in real-time with the characters in the murals through technologies such as eye tracking and gesture recognition, providing a more realistic and immersive travel experience.

Strengthening visitors’ awareness of consequences and ascribed responsibility for environmental protection. It is recommended that AR projects, such as museums and tourist attractions, make full use of diversified promotional channels to enhance visitors’ awareness of the negative impact of environmental damage, thereby strengthening their responsibility for environmental protection and personal norms, and ultimately achieving the goal of environmental protection behaviour. For example, the Chengdu Museum of Sichuan province, in China allow visitors to experience the process of garbage disposal by VR project and carry out environmental education and practical activities.

Improving personal norms for visitors’ environmental protection and enhancing their pro-environmental behaviour intentions. Personal norms activation is a key factor in enhancing visitors’ pro-environmental behaviour intention. First, in AR or similar tourism projects, tourism managers should set up environmental warning signs in prominent places to limit improper visitors’ behaviour. Second, staff in scenic areas could play an environmentally friendly exemplary role, enhance visitors’ pro-environmental behaviour intention, and appropriately guide visitors’ environmental behaviour. Finally, it is recommended to actively promote visitors’ knowledge about protecting animals and the environment, awaken their awareness of environmental protection, and enhance their sense of mission and responsibility by selecting environmental ambassadors and other events.

Guiding visitors to establish a positive pro-environmental attitude by actively creating a good science popularisation atmosphere. Visitors’ attitudes towards environmental protection behaviour directly and positively affect their intentions to do so. It is recommended that tourism managers actively improve the infrastructure and internal service level of scenic areas, and thus enhance the quality of the VR tourism experience for visitors when developing AR or similar projects.

Limitations and future research directions

This study still has several limitations that suggest opportunities for future research. First, the study was conducted within AR project of the Marine Animal Branch in the Guangdong Museum, China, which may limit the generalizability of the findings to other settings or types of tourism. Future research could explore the applicability of these findings in different cultural tourism contexts or among different demographic groups.

Second, the unexpected non-significance of perceived presence and flow experience of museum visitors suggests further investigation. The study only considered how presence and flow experience in AR project influence museum visitors’ attitude, and further influences pro-environmental behavior intention. Future research may consider interactivity, authenticity, knowledge acquisition, and other stimulating factors into conceptual models, as suggested by Wu and Wang53.

Third, this study solely takes a Chinese museum’s AR project as an example to explore the impact of new technologies on attitudes, personal norms, and pro-environmental behavior intentions. Future research could concentrate on diverse newtechnology projects, contrast the disparities in educational effectiveness among different projects, and offer decision-making guidance for museum managers in terms of project development or adoption.