# Effects of living environment quality on cultural heritage responsibility behaviors of residents in traditional villages: a case study from Hangzhou, China

## TL;DR

This study explores how the quality of living environments in traditional villages affects residents' sense of responsibility for cultural heritage, using a model that includes place attachment and pride as key factors.

## Contribution

The study expands the PAD model's application to cultural heritage protection and identifies a sequential mediation mechanism involving place attachment and pride.

## Key findings

- Living environment quality indirectly influences cultural heritage responsibility behaviors through place attachment and pride.
- Place attachment and pride both significantly predict cultural heritage responsibility behaviors.
- Optimizing living environments can promote sustainable cultural heritage inheritance by enhancing emotional identification.

## Abstract

Based on the PAD temperament model, this study aims to systematically reveal the influence path of living environment quality in traditional villages on residents’ cultural heritage responsibility behaviors, and verify the individual mediating effects and sequential mediating effect of place attachment and pride, so as to provide empirical support for the theoretical system of cultural heritage protection.

A questionnaire survey was conducted among 425 residents from 4 traditional villages in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, China to collect data. Core variables were measured using mature scales, and the reliability and validity of the scales were tested through a pilot survey (Cronbach’s α=0.958) and CFA. SEM was constructed using SPSS 25.0 and AMOS 24.0, and the Bootstrap method was adopted to verify the mediating effects.

Living environment quality had no direct significant impact on cultural heritage responsibility behaviors (β = −0.073, p > 0.05), but significantly positively predicted place attachment (β = 0.958, p < 0.001) and pride (β =0.765, p < 0.001). Both place attachment and pride significantly positively influenced cultural heritage responsibility behaviors (β = 0.471, 0.455; both p < 0.001), and place attachment positively predicted pride (β = 0.391, p < 0.001). The mediating effect test showed that the individual mediating effect of place attachment (Estimation=0.451, 95%CI = [0.240,0.687]), the individual mediating effect of pride (Estimation=0.348, 95%CI = [0.179,0.590]), and the sequential mediating effect (Estimation=0.171, 95%CI = [0.073,0.324]) were all significant, forming a complete mediation model.

This study expands the application boundary of the PAD model in the field of cultural heritage protection in traditional villages, and clarifies the sequential mediating mechanism of “living environment quality → place attachment → pride → cultural heritage responsibility behaviors”. The research conclusions provide a scientific basis for the protection practice of traditional villages, and can indirectly promote the sustainable inheritance of cultural heritage by optimizing the living environment and cultivating residents’ emotional identification.