Humour-based digital interpretation in heritage tourism: enhancing tourists’ willingness to inherit culture through perceived warmth and competence

Despite the growing adoption of digital technologies in heritage tourism interpretation, the effectiveness of humour-based content – particularly AI-generated content (AIGC) – remains underexplored, with limited understanding of the psychological mechanisms driving cultural preservation behaviours. Using the stereotype content model as the theoretical framework, this study addresses this gap by analyzing the influence of humour-based digital interpretation content on tourists’ willingness to inherit culture. Through a questionnaire survey of 343 Chinese tourists interacting with AI-generated humorous interpretation content, data were analyzed using confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and structural equation modelling (SEM). The findings indicate that humour-based digital interpretation significantly enhances tourists’ perceived warmth (β = 0.517, p < 0.001) and competence (β = 0.566, p < 0.001), which in turn fully mediate its effect on willingness to inherit culture (direct effect nonsignificant). Self-esteem positively moderates these relationships, amplifying the impact of humour on warmth and competence. This study advances theoretical understanding of the emotional and cognitive mechanisms underlying cultural preservation behaviours and offers practical guidance for heritage tourism practitioners, suggesting that AI-generated humorous content can be strategically used to engage visitors and promote cultural inheritance.