Enhancing perceived legitimacy to increase VR museum revisits: Based on the DAST framework

Although the application of virtual reality (VR) in tourism has shown exponential growth, existing research primarily explores the benefits of VR technology in tourism from immersion, interactivity, and social presence. Designing virtual tourism products from the perspective of perceived legitimacy is an important but underexplored topic in current research. Based on the DAST framework and the theory of legitimacy, this study, taking the VR museum as an example, investigates the impact of the behavior of other visitors on the focal visitor's intention to revisit and the underlying mechanisms. The findings from a pilot experiment and two between-subjects experiments indicate that the behavior of “viewing exhibits†can enhance the focal visitor's revisit intention through perceived legitimacy compared to the behavior of “talking with each other†. Furthermore, day-night conditions not only play a moderating role in the relationship between the behavior of other visitors and the focal visitor's revisit intention, but also moderate the mediation of perceived legitimacy. This study offers practical insights for designing and optimizing VR museums, with significant application value in enhancing perceived legitimacy and revisit intention.