This study examines how stress-relief-oriented escape, self-fulfillment, and digital information environments are associated with emotion value co-creation among Generation Z cultural heritage tourists.
Drawing on self-determination theory (SDT) and service-dominant logic (SDL), the authors analyze survey data from 457 adult Gen Z tourists who had visited cultural heritage destinations in Shanxi Province, China, using partial least squares structural equation modeling.
Stress-relief-oriented escape was negatively associated with both self-fulfillment and emotion value co-creation, while self-fulfillment was positively associated with emotion value co-creation and carried a significant indirect association between escape and co-creation.
Moderation analyses revealed contrasting digital boundary conditions: higher media promotion progressively attenuated the negative escape relationships toward non-significance, whereas stronger GenAI personalization showed different, sometimes opposing, effects.
The findings suggest that heritage destinations aiming to activate Gen Z as emotion value co-creators should combine self-fulfillment-oriented experience design with careful calibration of GenAI personalization and destination media strategies.