Public Acceptance Mechanisms of Digital Interactive Media in Urban Cultural Heritage Communication: An Empirical Study Based on Sustainability-Stratified Symbolic Contexts and Multi-Group SEM

In the context of the increasing digitalization of urban cultural heritage communication, public acceptance, identification, and dissemination of symbolic cultural heritage content exhibit pronounced structural differences across sustainability levels. Taking Xuzhou—a national historical and cultural city in China—as the empirical context, this study conceptualizes cultural heritage as symbolic carriers of cultural meaning and constructs a sustainability-stratified analytical framework. By integrating the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) and Cultural Identity (CI) theory, and incorporating Perceived Sustainability of Cultural Heritage (PSC) and Digital Interactive Media Participation (DMP), the study develops a comprehensive model of public communication acceptance mechanisms. Based on 931 valid questionnaires collected from local residents and visitors, exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses, structural equation modeling (SEM), and permutation-based multi-group analysis (MGA) are employed to examine both overall behavioral pathways and cross-group structural heterogeneity across symbolic heritage contexts with different sustainability tiers. The results indicate that: (1) PSC significantly influences communication intention through attitude, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control, with cultural identity playing a central mediating role; (2) digital interactive media participation primarily functions as a contextual enabler, significantly moderating the relationship between perceived behavioral control and communication intention; and (3) substantial structural differences exist across sustainability tiers, with medium-sustainability symbolic contexts demonstrating the strongest psychological activation effects in attitude formation, identity internalization, and intention conversion. Theoretically, this study extends the integrative application of TPB and cultural identity theory by embedding sustainability perception as an upstream cognitive trigger and repositioning cultural identity as a mediating mechanism within symbolic heritage communication processes. Methodologically, it establishes a systematic “sustainability evaluation–stratified modeling–multi-group comparison” analytical framework. Practically, the findings provide empirical guidance for differentiated communication strategies and digital media interventions tailored to symbolic cultural heritage systems.