Intangible cultural heritage products (ICHPs) function as an important medium through which regional cultural values are communicated within tourism consumption, thereby supporting the sustainability of cultural heritage practices. However, existing research provides limited insight into the psychological mechanisms underlying region-specific purchase intentions. To address this gap, this study extends the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) by incorporating cultural identity and consumer knowledge as antecedent variables and product scarcity as a moderating factor, with the aim of explaining tourists’ purchase intention toward Bashu ICHPs in China. Data were collected from 429 tourists and analyzed using structural equation modeling and hierarchical regression techniques. The results indicate that cultural identity and consumer knowledge indirectly influence purchase intention through attitudes and subjective norms, whereas perceived behavioral control emerges as the strongest direct predictor of purchase intention. In addition, product scarcity significantly strengthens several relationships between the antecedent variables and the core TPB components, thereby amplifying culturally and cognitively driven decision-making processes. Overall, this study deepens theoretical understanding of consumer behavior within regional cultural heritage systems and provides practical insights for the sustainable development and marketing of Bashu ICHPs.
Zhang et al. (2026) studied this question.