Configurational Effects for Enhancing the User Acceptance of Cultural Heritage Virtual Humans

Abstract

Digital technology has changed information dissemination and social interaction, creating new media and models of cultural communication. In the field of human-computer interaction and digital exploration of cultural heritage objects, virtual human (VH) design is increasingly attracting the attention of users and playing an important role. Although extensive empirical research has been conducted on the user experience of cultural heritage VH design, most of these studies have used experiments or questionnaires to study the impact of VH appearance and interaction characteristics on user perception. Research on the complex relationship between cultural heritage VH design factors and user acceptance through online data is lacking. Based on the computers-are-social-actors (CASA) paradigm, we first used the methods of literature research, industry observation and expert demonstration to identify five crucial factors in the design of cultural heritage VHs: character setting, cultural clues, visual image, voice interaction, and dynamic design. Then, we selected 28 cultural heritage VHs on China's Douyin short video platform as samples and employed fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA), which combines qualitative analysis and quantitative measurement, to conduct research to explore the influence of the design factors of cultural heritage VHs on user acceptance. The findings reveal three effective configuration modes for achieving high user acceptance, namely, the "emotionally oriented" mode, the "technologically oriented" mode, and the "all-factor-coordinated" mode, in which dynamic design factors are necessary elements of all the configurations. Considering the consistency and raw coverage of the configurations, the "all-factor-coordinated" approach is the optimal way to achieve high user acceptance of cultural heritage VHs. This study provides valuable empirical evidence for better design and optimization of cultural heritage virtual humans, as well as theoretical support and practical guidance for achieving high-quality and efficient user cultural experiences in human-computer interaction environments.