Investigating the Impact of Cultural Tourism NFTs’ Perceived Value and Experiential Evaluation on WOM of a Tourism Destination: A Generational Difference Moderation Approach

As an emerging thing, Non-Fungible Token (NFT) has been used in the tourism sector to attract new customers and promote destinations. However, there is a challenge in how cultural tourism NFT’s perceived value influences the experiential evaluation of customers, and induces their WOM on the destination. Additionally, the attitude of generational differences on cultural tourism NFT is unknown. Therefore, this study aims to identify the effects of cultural tourism NFTs’ perceived value on destination WOM. Drawing on S-O-R framework, a conceptual model has been proposed to examine the perceived value of cultural tourism NFT (functional, monetary, social, and emotional) on destination WOM through experiential evaluation. The generational difference was assumed as a moderator (i.e., Millennials and Generation Z). The model was tested by data collected from Dunhuang NFT users (N = 383). The results indicate that perceived functional, monetary, and emotional value could improve destination WOM through experiential evaluation, while perceived social value of cultural tourism NFT has no significant impact on experiential evaluation. Meanwhile, the findings reveal that Millennials show more positive destination WOM than Generation Z after they experience cultural tourism NFTs. This study provides valuable insights into the relationships between cultural tourism NFTs and destination WOM.