China’s quasi-national parks as a social-psychological turning point: provincial governance, tourism perceptions, and community well-being

China’s quasi-national parks represent an intermediate stage in the nation’s transition toward integrated conservation governance. Yet little is known about how this transitional phase reshapes residents’ tourism perceptions and subjective well-being. Using Shennongjia as a case, the study adopts a mixed-methods approach that combines household surveys with longitudinal interviews within the Prism of Sustainability framework. Results reveal that as fiscal and administrative authority shifts from central to provincial governments, residents experience greater uncertainty in compensation, participation, and benefit-sharing arrangements, while also developing differentiated livelihood strategies. Socio-cultural and institutional sustainability, rather than economic or ecological sustainability, emerge as the strongest predictors of satisfaction, trust, and well-being. Livelihood strategies moderate these relationships, with mixed-livelihood households demonstrating greater resilience than tourism-dependent households. Overall, the quasi-national park functions as a socio-psychological turning point through which governance credibility, fairness, and participation reshape residents’ sustainability perceptions and well-being, offering broader lessons for transitional protected-area systems in China and beyond.