How Tourists Perceive Creativity in Museum Cultural and Creative Products (MCCPs): A Dual-Path Evaluation Framework

Museum cultural and creative products (MCCPs) play a growing role in cultural tourism by extending visitor engagement and enriching interpretation. As destinations pursue innovation and personalization, understanding how tourists evaluate creativity becomes essential. This study proposes a psychologically-informed measurement model and introduces a dual-path framework linking model structure (reflective vs. formative) with perception- and cognition-based evaluation. Based on 545 museum visitor responses, the study validates a reflective model aligned with perception-dominant processing and shows that perceptual appeal often fails to affect cognitive judgments. These findings challenge common assumptions in creativity assessment and MCCP design. The study contributes theoretically by aligning measurement structures with tourist psychology, and practically by offering guidance for developing MCCPs that match diverse motivations. It supports more effective product development, improves tourist satisfaction, and informs future research on creativity and decision-making in MCCP evaluation and cultural tourism contexts.