Digital Architectural Heritage Experience and Continuance Learning Intention: Authenticity, Spatial Exploration, and Prior On-Site Experience as a Contextual Boundary

Digital technologies are transforming how urban architectural heritage is represented, explored, and learned, yet less is known about whether such experiences are associated with users’ intention to continue heritage learning beyond gameplay. Drawing on the Stimulus–Organism–Response framework, this study examines how perceived authenticity of heritage representation (PAHR) and architectural spatial exploration interactivity (ASI) relate to self-reported architectural heritage knowledge acquisition (KA), perceived learning value (PV), cultural identity (CI), perceived enjoyment (PE), and continuance learning intention (CLI). Using 423 valid responses from users of the Digital Central Axis · Microcosm serious game, we integrated PLS-SEM, MICOM/PLS-MGA, and fsQCA. PAHR and ASI were positively associated with perceived KA, PV, CI, and PE. Perceived KA was directly associated with CLI and showed significant indirect relationships through PV and CI, whereas PE→CLI and KA→PE→CLI were nonsignificant. PLS-MGA revealed selective differences between users with and without prior on-site heritage visitation experience. fsQCA identified four sufficient configurations for high CLI, showing that PE may still function as a core condition within specific combinations. These findings concern self-reported perceived knowledge acquisition and future learning intention rather than objectively measured knowledge gains or actual subsequent learning behavior, and they indicate how authenticity, spatial exploration, prior physical experience, and cognitive–psychological responses are associated with post-experience heritage learning intention.