Short-video platforms can widen access to intangible cultural heritage, but platform adoption alone does not explain why audiences continue engaging with culturally specialised content. This conceptual paper develops a parsimonious model of Peking Opera audiences’ continuance intention on Kuaishou by integrating the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology 2 (UTAUT2) with the Stimulus–Organism–Response (SOR) framework and information-systems continuance research. The model reorganises ten context-relevant antecedents into five stimulus domains: functional affordances, content curation, social embeddedness, experiential value and cultural resonance. These stimuli shape two organism states—attitude towards watching Peking Opera on Kuaishou and satisfaction with the accumulated viewing experience—which subsequently influence continuance intention. Attitude is also proposed to contribute to satisfaction, while both states transmit the effects of external stimuli to continued use. The model excludes price value because the focal content is generally accessed without a direct usage charge, treats habit and demographic characteristics as boundary conditions rather than multiplying the core paths, and separates continuance intention from recommendation intention. Nine proposition families replace an earlier over-specified set of direct and mediating hypotheses. The paper contributes a sociotechnical-cultural account of digital heritage engagement, clarifies the complementary roles of UTAUT2 and SOR, and provides an empirically testable framework for platform designers, cultural organisations, performers and heritage educators.
Ajzen, I. (1991). The theory of planned behavior. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 50(2), 179–211. https://doi.org/10.1016/0749-5978(91)90020-T
Ashmore, R. D., Deaux, K., & McLaughlin-Volpe, T. (2004). An organizing framework for collective identity: Articulation and significance of multidimensionality. Psychological Bulletin, 130(1), 80–114. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-2909.130.1.80
Bhattacherjee, A. (2001). Understanding information systems continuance: An expectation-confirmation model. MIS Quarterly, 25(3), 351–370. https://doi.org/10.2307/3250921
Bucher, T. (2017). The algorithmic imaginary: Exploring the ordinary affects of Facebook algorithms. Information, Communication & Society, 20(1), 30–44. https://doi.org/10.1080/1369118X.2016.1154086
Cen, C., Luo, G., Tian, Y., Fu, B., Chen, Y., Huang, S., Jiang, T., & Huang, G. (2024). Enhancing the dissemination of Cantonese Opera among youth via Bilibili: A study on intangible cultural heritage transmission. Humanities and Social Sciences Communications, 11, 1038. https://doi.org/10.1057/s41599-024-03537-w
Cui, T., Kumar, P., & Orr, S. A. (2023). Connecting characteristics of social media activities of a heritage organisation to audience engagement. Digital Applications in Archaeology and Cultural Heritage, 28, e00253. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.daach.2022.e00253
DeLone, W. H., & McLean, E. R. (2003). The DeLone and McLean model of information systems success: A ten-year update. Journal of Management Information Systems, 19(4), 9–30. https://doi.org/10.1080/07421222.2003.11045748
Dwivedi, Y. K., Rana, N. P., Jeyaraj, A., Clement, M., & Williams, M. D. (2019). Re-examining the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT): Towards a revised theoretical model. Information Systems Frontiers, 21(3), 719–734. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10796-017-9774-y
Eroglu, S. A., Machleit, K. A., & Davis, L. M. (2001). Atmospheric qualities of online retailing: A conceptual model and implications. Journal of Business Research, 54(2), 177–184. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0148-2963(99)00087-9
Giaccardi, E. (2012). Reframing heritage in a participatory culture. In E. Giaccardi (Ed.), Heritage and social media: Understanding heritage in a participatory culture (pp. 1–10). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203112984-1
Guo, J., Liu, Z., & Liu, Y. (2016). Key success factors for the launch of government social media platform: Identifying the formation mechanism of continuance intention. Computers in Human Behavior, 55, 750–763. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2015.10.004
Hall, S. (1996). Who needs identity? In S. Hall & P. du Gay (Eds.), Questions of cultural identity (pp. 1–17). SAGE.
Jacoby, J. (2002). Stimulus-organism-response reconsidered: An evolutionary step in modeling (consumer) behavior. Journal of Consumer Psychology, 12(1), 51–57. https://doi.org/10.1207/S15327663JCP1201_05
Mehrabian, A., & Russell, J. A. (1974). An approach to environmental psychology. MIT Press.
O’Brien, H. L., & Toms, E. G. (2008). What is user engagement? A conceptual framework for defining user engagement with technology. Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology, 59(6), 938–955. https://doi.org/10.1002/asi.20801
Tamilmani, K., Rana, N. P., Dwivedi, Y. K., & Sharma, A. (2021). The extended unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT2): A systematic literature review and theory evaluation. International Journal of Information Management, 57, 102269. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijinfomgt.2020.102269
United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. (2003). Convention for the safeguarding of the intangible cultural heritage. https://ich.unesco.org/en/convention
United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. (2010). Peking opera. https://ich.unesco.org/en/RL/peking-opera-00418
Venkatesh, V., Morris, M. G., Davis, G. B., & Davis, F. D. (2003). User acceptance of information technology: Toward a unified view. MIS Quarterly, 27(3), 425–478. https://doi.org/10.2307/30036540
Venkatesh, V., Thong, J. Y. L., & Xu, X. (2012). Consumer acceptance and use of information technology: Extending the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology. MIS Quarterly, 36(1), 157–178. https://doi.org/10.2307/41410412
Venkatesh, V., Thong, J. Y. L., & Xu, X. (2016). Unified theory of acceptance and use of technology: A synthesis and the road ahead. Journal of the Association for Information Systems, 17(5), 328–376. https://doi.org/10.17705/1jais.00428
Wixom, B. H., & Todd, P. A. (2005). A theoretical integration of user satisfaction and technology acceptance. Information Systems Research, 16(1), 85–102. https://doi.org/10.1287/isre.1050.0042
Yang, H., Zhang, S., Diao, Z., & Sun, D. (2023). What motivates users to continue using current short video applications? A dual-path examination of flow experience and cognitive lock-in. Telematics and Informatics, 85, 102050. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tele.2023.102050
Yang, Y., & Lee, K. T. (2024). The international communication of Tik Tok short video of Chinese opera culture. Malaysian Journal of Social Sciences and Humanities (MJSSH), 9(7), e002781. https://doi.org/10.47405/mjssh.v9i7.2781
Zhang, Q., Wang, Y., & Ariffin, S. K. (2024). Keep scrolling: An investigation of short video users’ continuous watching behavior. Information & Management, 61(6), 104014. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.im.2024.104014
Zhao, Y., Wang, A., & Sun, Y. (2020). Technological environment, virtual experience, and MOOC continuance: A stimulus–organism–response perspective. Computers & Education, 144, 103721. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compedu.2019.103721
Shixia, Y., & Chelum, A. anak. (2026). Explaining Peking Opera Audiences’ Continuance Intention on Kuaishou: An Integrated UTAUT2–SOR Conceptual Model. International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences, 16(8), 561–577.
Copyright: © 2026 The Author(s)
Published by Knowledge Words Publications (www.kwpublications.com)
This article is published under the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY 4.0) license. Anyone may reproduce, distribute, translate and create derivative works of this article (for both commercial and non-commercial purposes), subject to full attribution to the original publication and authors. The full terms of this license may be seen at: http://creativecommons.org/licences/by/4.0/legalcode
