Psychological mechanisms linking perceived value of traditional music to cultural identity and communication effects in the digital survival of intangible cultural heritage: a cross-cultural comparative study

The digital circulation of intangible cultural heritage music reshapes how audiences perceive, identify with, and propagate traditional artistic forms across cultural boundaries. This study integrates perceived value theory, social identity theory, and the elaboration likelihood model to construct a psychological mechanism model linking digital presentation characteristics, perceived value, cultural identity, and communication effect, with cultural distance as a moderator. A five-dimensional perceived-value scale covering functional, emotional, social, cultural, and aesthetic dimensions was developed and validated. A cross-cultural empirical study was conducted with 1,547 valid respondents from China, Japan, Germany, and the United States, paired with four indigenous stimuli (guqin, Noh, alpine yodel, bluegrass). Covariance-based structural equation modeling with maximum-likelihood estimation was used throughout, together with multi-group measurement invariance testing, bias-corrected bootstrap mediation, and latent moderated structural equation modeling. Results confirm the five-dimensional structure across all groups, with cultural and aesthetic value dominating identity formation for proximate audiences and emotional and functional value gaining weight for distant ones. Cultural identity partially mediates the perceived value to communication effect pathway (VAF = 0.557), and cultural distance significantly attenuates both legs of the mediation (index of moderated mediation = -0.119). Findings extend perceived value theory into the heritage music domain and offer evidence-based guidance for culturally adaptive digital dissemination strategies.