The influence of museum educational quality on tourists’ perceived learning outcomes from palace museum cultural and creative products: The mediating effects of learning satisfaction and perceived educational value

Abstract

The Palace Museum’s cultural and creative products have increasingly become important media for communicating historical knowledge, cultural meanings, and heritage values. However, existing research has mainly examined these products from marketing, design, and purchase-intention perspectives, while their educational functions remain insufficiently explored. This study investigates the influence of Museum Educational Quality on tourists’ Perceived Learning Outcomes from Palace Museum cultural and creative products, with Learning Satisfaction and Perceived Educational Value serving as mediating variables. Museum Educational Quality was represented by three dimensions: Educational Content Quality, Museum Interpretation Quality, and Interactive Learning Experience. A quantitative research design was adopted, and data were collected through a structured questionnaire containing 24 measurement items. A total of 360 questionnaires were distributed, 351 were returned, and 346 valid responses were retained for analysis. Reliability analysis, confirmatory factor analysis, structural equation modelling, and bootstrap mediation analysis were conducted. The results showed that Educational Content Quality, Museum Interpretation Quality, and Interactive Learning Experience all had significant positive effects on Learning Satisfaction and Perceived Educational Value. Learning Satisfaction and Perceived Educational Value also significantly improved tourists’ Perceived Learning Outcomes. Furthermore, both mediators partially mediated the relationships between the three dimensions of Museum Educational Quality and Perceived Learning Outcomes. Perceived Educational Value demonstrated a stronger influence on learning outcomes than Learning Satisfaction. The findings confirm that Palace Museum cultural and creative products can function not only as commercial products but also as extensions of museum education. The study contributes to museum-learning research by establishing an educational-quality framework for cultural and creative products and provides practical guidance for improving their educational content, interpretation, interaction, and learning effectiveness.

Keywords: Palace Museum, museum educational quality, cultural and creative products, learning satisfaction, perceived educational value, perceived learning outcomes, structural equation modelling.

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