Authentic perception experience of tourists in traditional agricultural cultural heritage village: Scale development and validation

Abstract

With the development of agricultural heritage tourism, traditional villages, as. Representatives of agricultural cultural heritage, have become a focal point in academia. However, existing research has not yet clarified the mechanism behind the formation of tourists’ perceived authenticity in traditional agricultural cultural heritage village, and the quantitative indicators for this perception are also unclear. Therefore, this paper conducted two studies based on Azheke Village in Yuanyang County, Yunnan Province. Study 1, building on a clear understanding of tourists’ perceived authenticity in traditional villages, used a grounded theory approach to construct the mechanism of tourists’ perceived authenticity in traditional agricultural cultural heritage village. Building upon the findings of Study 1, Study 2 followed a standardized scale development process, developing and testing a perceived authenticity scale for traditional village tourists that included five dimensions: natural ecology, interpersonal interaction, nostalgia, narrative continuity, and psychological compatibility. The scale developed in this paper provides a tool foundation for future research on tourists’ perceived authenticity in traditional agricultural cultural heritage village, and the results of scale predictive utility testing provide positive empirical evidence for future related research.