Exploration of the viewing intention mechanism of Chinese traditional culture animated films based on SOR and TPB

The Chinese animated film market is developing fast and some of them have great success, such as “Nezha: The Monster Boy in the Sea” and the “Boonie Bears” series. But to understand the impact of traditional cultural symbols on viewing intent is underexplored. To bridge the gap between external cultural stimuli and internal cognitive evaluations, this paper conceptually integrates the Stimulus-Organism-Response (SOR) framework with the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB). By positioning TPB’s psychological mechanisms (attitudes, norms, perceived control) as the ‘Organism’ state, this study constructs a theoretical model examining how traditional symbols drive viewing intentions, with cultural identity acting as a moderator. Surveying 441 Chinese animated film viewers, structural equation modeling indicates that traditional symbols positively impact attitudes, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control, which subsequently drive the intention to watch films. Notably, attitude exerts the strongest effect on viewing intention, followed by subjective norms and perceived behavioral control. Cultural identity was found to moderate the relationship between attitude and intention, but it did not influence subjective norms or perceived behavioral control, indicating an asymmetric effect. Specifically, cultural identity enhanced the connection between attitude and intention without affecting the pathways related to subjective norms or perceived behavioral control. Additionally, a multigroup analysis (MGA) based on gender was conducted to confirm the model’s stability across different groups. Multi-group analysis verifies the structural invariance of the model across different genders, highlighting its robustness and general applicability. This study brings a new framework of understanding the consumption of cultural virtual products.