Preamble

How Do Information Quality, Service Quality, and System Quality Affect the Dissemination Effect of Cultural Tourism Government Short Videos? — A Fuzzy-Set Qualitative Comparative Analysis Based on 161 Cases

Zhihui Liu, Jie Dong, Jiaqi Zhao*
School of Public Finance and Public Administration, Tianjin University of Finance and Economics, Tianjin, 300222

Abstract

[Research Objective] This study investigates the influencing factors and combinational pathways affecting the dissemination effectiveness of cultural tourism government short videos, providing theoretical foundations for enhancing government information dissemination capacity, shaping local image, and optimizing public services. [Research Method] Drawing upon the three dimensions of the Information Systems Success Model, this paper examines 161 cultural tourism short video works from eight provincial-level cultural tourism accounts with over one million followers. We construct a framework linking eight conditional variables—theme type, language type, video style, posting time slot, comment response, technical packaging, monthly posting volume, and hashtag (#)—to the dissemination effect of cultural tourism government short videos. Using fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA), we identify six configurational pathways for achieving effective dissemination, revealing the conditional configurational relationships between relevant influencing factors and dissemination outcomes. [Research Conclusions] The findings demonstrate that technical packaging constitutes a necessary condition for achieving effective dissemination. The six configurational pathways can be categorized into three types: information quality-oriented, service quality-oriented, and system quality-oriented, with variations in core and peripheral conditions across these paths. To improve dissemination effectiveness, this paper synthesizes the relevant findings from the six configurational pathways and proposes feasible recommendations for enhancing comment response mechanisms, strengthening hashtag-content relevance, enriching short video content, and clarifying role positioning.

Keywords: Dissemination effect; Cultural tourism government short videos; Government Douyin accounts

1. Problem Statement

(1) Research Background

With the "14th Five-Year Plan" outlining the advancement of network power construction and the accelerated development of the digital economy, digital society, and digital government, China is leveraging digital transformation to drive changes in production methods, lifestyles, and governance models. Provinces and municipalities nationwide are actively exploring the development of internet-based government services to enhance the digitalization and intelligence of public services and social governance. On June 22, 2022, the State Council issued the "Guiding Opinions on Strengthening Digital Government Construction," calling for alignment with digital transformation trends, unlocking digital development dividends, innovating digital governance models, and meeting diverse public demands. As mobile internet evolves, government new media has become a crucial platform for government services and social communication. In February 2016, the General Office of the State Council issued the "Opinions on Comprehensively Advancing Government Affairs Openness," proposing the use of new platforms such as government Weibo, WeChat, and government client applications to expand information dissemination and provide online services. Subsequently, the "two micros and one client" mobile government matrix rapidly expanded nationwide, serving as a vehicle for digital government construction. Leveraging visual storytelling, strong immersion, and viral dissemination characteristics, government short videos have become an important medium for local governments to build communication capacity, guidance power, and influence. The rise of short video platforms like Douyin has provided a new arena for government communication.

According to the "China Online Audio-Visual Development Research Report (2024)," Douyin and Kuaishou's user penetration rates far exceed those of other platforms. Government short videos have garnered significant government attention due to their ability to better understand public needs and public opinion trends. However, current government short videos exhibit a prominent issue of "emphasizing publication over effectiveness": some accounts maintain high-frequency updates yet suffer from consistently low core dissemination metrics, while certain content may achieve short-term traffic but fails to translate into sustained user attention or government-public interaction.

Among the diverse types of government short videos, cultural tourism government short videos occupy a pivotal position due to their rich content resources, broad audience base, and unique cultural communication value. These short videos not only showcase local natural scenery, cultural heritage, and folk customs but also serve as an important bridge connecting government and the public while promoting cultural exchange and tourism development. Nevertheless, cultural tourism government short videos similarly face challenges in achieving effective dissemination. Therefore, this study adopts a communication studies perspective, using 161 cultural tourism government short video cases as a sample to construct a dissemination effect influencing factor model. It analyzes the factors affecting the dissemination effectiveness of cultural tourism government short videos to provide scientific and differentiated communication strategies for government account operations, thereby enhancing the effectiveness of government new media in the context of digital government construction.

(2) Literature Review

Government short videos refer to videos lasting from a few seconds to several minutes, released by government agencies and media government accounts officially certified by Douyin (yellow V or blue V), that incorporate contemporary hot topics, trending searches, and government propaganda [1]. The production mechanism of government short videos primarily employs audio-visual synchronization to intensify users' sensory experiences, thereby subtly disseminating hot topics of public concern, such as important domestic and international conferences and livelihood issues closely related to the public, to shape national image and spread positive energy [2]. Current domestic research on government short videos mainly focuses on three aspects: First, studies on communication strategies, dilemmas, and optimization paths, such as Qi Kai and Li Xin's research based on the S3EIR model analyzing the entire process of comments generated by the Nanjing "Mao Laotai" incident on Douyin, revealing that netizens' positive, negative, and neutral emotions influence short video dissemination paths [3]. Second, research on the communication value of government short videos, such as studies on short videos' role in city image construction and their value and pathways in social governance participation. Third, studies on factors influencing audience adoption of government short videos, such as Li Xiufeng's investigation of factors affecting Communist Youth League Douyin short videos [4] and Yang Dansen et al.'s construction of a dissemination effect influencing factor model for reading promotion short videos on Douyin [5].

Existing literature reveals that research has primarily focused on government websites, government Weibo, and government WeChat, with limited engagement on government short videos as an entirely new form of government new media. Moreover, most existing studies conduct qualitative research at the macro level on the value and development prospects of government short videos, with few quantitatively examining dissemination effects and their influencing factors from the perspective of communication effectiveness. This study takes cultural tourism government Douyin short videos as an example, constructs an influencing factor model for government short video dissemination effects, and employs fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis to clarify the influencing factors of dissemination effectiveness, addressing the following questions:

Q1: Which factors influence the dissemination effectiveness of cultural tourism government short videos?
Q2: What combinational configurations exist among the influencing factors of cultural tourism government short video dissemination effectiveness, and are there any necessary conditions among them?

2. Research Design

(1) Research Method

This study employs fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) to explore the configurational pathways through which multiple factors jointly drive the dissemination effectiveness of cultural tourism government short videos. Unlike traditional multiple regression methods, fsQCA is case-oriented and can systematically examine the causes of events and the interactive relationships among internal factors, as well as possible combinational relationships, to analyze how combinations of antecedent conditions affect outcomes.

(2) Model Construction

This study divides the dissemination effect of cultural tourism government short videos into two core dimensions. At the emotional level, it reflects audience psychological recognition and preference for content, specifically measured through user-generated positive comments to more comprehensively capture the emotional tendencies and quality of interaction. At the behavioral level, it reflects deeper audience interaction behaviors, including likes, favorites, shares, and comments, which respectively represent social transmission of information and the depth of interaction between disseminators and recipients.

DeLone and McLean integrated previous research and first proposed the Information Systems Success Model in 1992, which they revised in 2003. The D&M Information Systems Success Model demonstrates that "information quality," "service quality," and "system quality" influence user usage and satisfaction. Increased user satisfaction leads to more frequent actual use, thereby generating higher net benefits. After perceiving the benefits of the information system, user satisfaction improves and usage intention strengthens. As important indicators measuring system success, these factors in turn affect user satisfaction and usage, forming a feedback loop that drives overall information system success and sustainable development. When exploring influencing factors, this study combines short video characteristics with existing research [6] to construct an influencing factor model for cultural tourism government short video dissemination effectiveness (see Figure 1 [FIGURE:1]). This model selects eight specific indicators across three dimensions: information quality focuses on the information core itself, including theme type, language type, style representation, and posting time slot; service quality concerns comment response and technical packaging; system quality involves monthly posting volume and hashtags [7]. The model aims to comprehensively analyze how these three dimensions and eight conditional variables influence the dissemination effectiveness of cultural tourism government short videos.

1. Information Quality

Yan Ran's study of Shandong provincial government Douyin accounts found that short videos themed around military and police image promotion and warning education were more popular due to their closer relevance to public daily life [8]. Deng Yuanbing and Fan Youwen's analysis of the "Shanghai Release" Douyin account revealed that video theme types affect dissemination effectiveness, thereby assisting in city image construction [9]. Based on existing scholarship, this paper includes "theme type" as a variable. Combining the research theme and the characteristics of cultural tourism government short video subjects, we categorize theme types into four categories: landscape promotion, local features, policy interpretation, and others.

Short video "language type" generally influences users. Characteristic dialects can attract specific users and enhance their sense of belonging and cultural identity. After government agencies enter the Douyin platform, they appropriately incorporate popular and humorous language features that are easily accepted by the public to meet users' entertainment needs while promoting government information. Colloquial news titles facilitate audience understanding and拉近与受众的关系更好的达到传播效果 [10]. This study categorizes "language type" into three types: written language, local dialect, and others.

Cultural tourism account creators emphasize the humorous and popular characteristics of Douyin videos, using "down-to-earth" humorous videos to promote local characteristic tourism resources and attract user participation to achieve the purpose of disseminating regional features. Therefore, this research, based on the video style characteristics of cultural tourism government short videos, categorizes style representation into three types: humorous, serious, and others [11].

Posting time slot is a major influencing factor for government short video dissemination effectiveness. Liu Xiaojian noted when exploring government Weibo dissemination effectiveness that posting time affects user forwarding behavior on Weibo [12]. Zhu Jia and Shen Hongzhou used regression to explore emergency knowledge short videos posted by different types of accounts and found that posting time differences affect video dissemination effectiveness [13]. Based on existing academic research and the "Short Video Creator Work Posting Time Research Report" (2021), this study divides posting time slots into four categories: weekdays (11-13, 17-20), weekends (11-13, 17-20), weekdays (other times), and weekends (other times).

2. Service Quality

The original intention of government short videos is to disseminate government policies, regulations, and service information, facilitating public participation in policy discussion and feedback through short video formats to bridge the distance between government and the public. Zhang Hongbang used "interaction awareness" as a quantitative indicator, analyzing the number of reply comments on Weibo, WeChat, and short videos to conclude that political and legal new media in the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia region lacks interaction awareness and requires improvement [14]. Wei Jiayi and Jiang Yanjia selected 40 intangible cultural heritage Douyin accounts and included "content interactivity" as a variable to explore the dissemination effectiveness of intangible cultural heritage short videos [15]. Government Weibo managers should actively attract user participation and respond to their intentions to bridge the government-public relationship and maximize the influence of government Weibo. Therefore, this study includes "comment response" as a variable to examine whether cultural tourism short video creators' replies affect dissemination effectiveness.

"Technical packaging" primarily refers to short video creators using reasonable editing techniques to incorporate graphics, subtitles, and sound effects in short video production to create high-quality short videos that attract audience attention. A series of aesthetic designs such as background music and animated text can refine and package short videos, with high-quality technical packaging being one of the influencing factors for knowledge-based short videos to achieve better dissemination effectiveness [16]. This study introduces "technical packaging" as a variable when examining cultural tourism government short videos. Since objective factors such as shooting equipment and editing software, as well as virtual factors like video quality, rhythm, and audio quality are difficult to measure, this study divides "technical packaging" into three intuitively measurable elements: subtitles, animation, and music.

3. System Quality

"System quality" refers to the technical performance and operational characteristics of an information system, including system reliability and usability. Based on this study's theme, "system quality" primarily refers to the overall performance and effectiveness of short video platforms in terms of technology, functionality, and user experience. Zhai Yujia et al. found that information posting volume affects information diffusion effectiveness, with Weibo posting volume being seven times higher than Douyin posting volume being a major factor for Weibo's higher user engagement [17]. Douyin short video's hashtag function (#) plays an important role in precise push and search. Hashtags can be regarded as hyperlinks through which the public searches for content of interest and participates in related topic discussions. Liu Xiaojian et al. randomly selected Weibo accounts and found through statistical analysis that link-style symbols such as "@" and "#" can enhance user forwarding behavior [12].

Based on existing research, this study divides the "system quality" of cultural tourism government short videos into two categories: monthly posting volume and "topic hashtags." For example, commonly used cultural tourism government short video hashtags such as "travel guide," "food recommendation," and other locally characteristic tags help viewers quickly understand video themes and content, attracting audience attention.

[FIGURE:1] Influencing Factor Model for Cultural Tourism Government Short Video Dissemination Effect

(3) Data Sources

As of now, all 31 provinces nationwide have opened provincial- and municipal-level cultural tourism accounts certified by Douyin's blue V authentication. By searching for provincial- and municipal-level cultural tourism accounts through the Douyin APP and using blue V certification as the identification marker, we collected data from 31 provincial- and municipal-level cultural tourism accounts and gathered their follower counts and like counts, obtaining the ranking by follower count as shown in Table 1 [TABLE:1]. Yang Changjun discussed that follower counts of various accounts on the Douyin platform affect the dissemination effectiveness of content posted by the account [18]. Generally, Douyin accounts with larger follower bases have higher probabilities of content recommendation and greater likelihood of being browsed and engaged with by the public. Therefore, this study's research objects were selected from Douyin accounts with over one million followers, specifically from eight provincial-level cultural tourism accounts: Henan Provincial Department of Culture and Tourism, Friendly Shandong, Sichuan Cultural Tourism, Hebei Cultural Tourism, Shanxi Cultural Tourism, Shaanxi Cultural Tourism, Chongqing Cultural Tourism, and Water Rhyme Jiangsu. Considering temporal variations, 161 short videos from these official cultural tourism accounts with total followers exceeding one million were selected from the eight-month period between December 2023 and July 2024, with case brief summaries compiled in Table 2 [TABLE:2]:

[TABLE:1] Follower Counts and Like Counts of 31 Provincial-Level Official Douyin Accounts (Excluding Hong Kong, Macao, and Taiwan)

[TABLE:2] Case Summary Table

(4) Variable Selection

1. Outcome Variable

The outcome variable in this study is the dissemination effect of cultural tourism government short videos. Cao Xun, Fang Ruolin, and others used reading counts and like counts of government WeChat articles in Guangdong Province as outcome variables for regression analysis to explore government WeChat dissemination effectiveness [19]. Chen Qiang and Zhang Yangyi et al. used government short videos on the Bilibili platform as research objects and, combining Bilibili's dissemination characteristics, quantified dissemination effectiveness into three dimensions: dissemination breadth, depth, and participation, where dissemination breadth was evaluated through view counts, dissemination depth through favorites, likes, and coin donations, and dissemination participation through bullet comments and comment counts [20]. Huang Yan and Wang Xiaoyu et al. measured the dissemination effectiveness of Douyin short videos by Communist Youth Leagues through view counts, like counts, comment counts, in-platform forwarding counts, and out-of-platform sharing counts [21]. This demonstrates that academic research on government new media dissemination effectiveness typically uses indicators such as likes, forwards, favorites, shares, and reading counts as measurement standards. Combining Douyin platform characteristics, this study similarly uses like counts, comment counts, share counts, and favorite counts as indicators for measuring dissemination effectiveness. Additionally, Zhang, Y.'s research through quantitative analysis collected extensive user data on perceptions and behaviors regarding UGC, using questionnaires and experimental designs to evaluate how various UGC features (such as comments, ratings, videos) affect consumers [22]. This research indicates that user-generated positive comments can enhance content credibility, thereby influencing user behaviors such as liking and sharing, ultimately expanding dissemination effectiveness. Qi Kai et al., when exploring how emotional tendencies in short video comment sections affect netizen emotions, found that when government short video copy and comment section emotions are dominated by positive emotions, netizen emotions are more susceptible to the dominant emotion [23]. Therefore, based on existing research, this study innovatively includes positive comments as an indicator for measuring dissemination effectiveness. Among the 161 cultural tourism short videos, Python software was used to crawl all first-level comments totaling 284,569. After eliminating meaningless symbols, emoji comments, negative comments, suggestive comments, and emotionally neutral comments, 68,790 valid positive comments were obtained.

Finally, indicators such as like counts, share counts, favorite counts, total comment counts, and positive comment counts for cultural tourism government short videos were weighted and calculated. Based on the importance of the five indicators, the dissemination effect was transformed into a measurable value using the formula: $Y = \text{likes} \times 0.3 + \text{shares} \times 0.3 + \text{favorites} \times 0.2 + (\text{total comments} + \text{positive comments}) \times 0.2$. Based on this formula, raw measurement data for cultural tourism government short video dissemination effectiveness was obtained, and the original sample data was calibrated using three calibration anchors at the 95%, 50%, and 5% percentiles. Using Excel's PERCENTILE formula, values of 45886.8, 9559.3, and 1309.9 were obtained to serve as the full membership point, crossover point, and full non-membership point, respectively.

2. Condition Variables

This study introduces the D&M Information Systems Success Model to explore influencing factors of cultural tourism government short video dissemination effectiveness. Ma Liang discussed that factors such as video format, video theme, and character roles affect short video traffic [24]. Sun Meiling pointed out that emotional characteristics, discourse style, and administrative level of Douyin accounts affect government short video dissemination effectiveness [25]. Combining existing research on the D&M Information Systems Success Model and the characteristics of cultural tourism government short videos, this study examines influencing factors from three dimensions: "information quality," "service quality," and "system quality," setting conditional variables as theme type, language type, video style, posting time slot, comment response, technical support, and monthly posting volume. Variable explanations are shown in Table 3 [TABLE:3], and variable assignments are shown in Table 4 [TABLE:4].

[TABLE:3] Variable Explanations

[TABLE:4] Variable Assignment Table

3. Empirical Analysis

(1) Necessity Analysis

This study uses fsQCA4.0 software for data analysis. Based on the actual circumstances of selected cases and existing research, variables were assigned values, and the data was imported into fsQCA4.0 software for necessity analysis of eight condition variables totaling 16 positive and negative variables to obtain results.

[TABLE:5] Consistency Analysis of Condition Variables

Table 5 shows that the consistency of the theme type (T) condition variable exceeds 0.8, making it a sufficient condition for cultural tourism government short video dissemination effectiveness (Y). The consistency of technical packaging (TP) is 0.900213, exceeding 0.9, indicating that this condition variable is a necessary condition for cultural tourism government short video dissemination effectiveness. Cultural tourism government short videos tend to focus on disseminating the grandeur of landscapes and the long history of local characteristics. Compared with traditional oral news, the presence of technical packaging such as music, subtitles, and animation in cultural tourism government short videos helps viewers understand content more quickly, attracts audience attention through visual effects, and, against the backdrop of background music atmosphere, prompts users to like, comment, and engage in other behaviors. It can also be observed that the consistency of some condition variables is below 0.8, meaning these condition variables are not sufficient conditions for cultural tourism government short video dissemination effectiveness, but their presence still exerts certain influence on dissemination outcomes.

To further conduct configurational analysis of condition variables, this study imported the coded and calibrated data of 161 cases into fsQCA4.0 software for True Table Algorithm analysis and constructed a truth table. Most studies in the field select PRI thresholds greater than 0.7, so this study also selects a PRI threshold of 0.7 [32]. With a sample size of 161 cases and based on existing scholars' research experience, the frequency was initially set to 2 and the consistency threshold to 0.8, with PRI set at 0.7. However, results showed that a frequency of 2 could not ensure that 75% of cases were retained. Therefore, combining actual circumstances, the frequency threshold was ultimately set to 1, the raw consistency threshold to 0.8, and PRI to 0.7, after which the truth table was obtained.

(2) Configuration Analysis

This study imported eight condition variables into fsQCA4.0 software for configurational analysis, yielding 14 prime implicants. To avoid excessive simple solutions affecting the analysis of core and peripheral conditions, four prime implicants were selected. Based on the necessity analysis above, technical packaging (TP) has a consistency of 0.900213 and was treated as a necessary condition. Therefore, during counterfactual analysis, technical packaging (TP) was set to "present," while the other seven condition variables were set to "present or absent."

As shown in the table, there are six influencing factor pathways for cultural tourism government short video dissemination effectiveness, with each pathway's consistency exceeding 0.8 and the overall solution consistency reaching 0.92, indicating strong explanatory power of each pathway for the outcome variable. Meanwhile, the overall coverage is 0.22, a relatively low value. However, existing research has not established specific requirements for overall coverage values. Therefore, the six configurational pathways presented in the intermediate solution can be used as sufficient condition combinations for cultural tourism government short video dissemination effectiveness for further analysis, as shown in Table 6 [TABLE:6].

[TABLE:6] Intermediate Solution for Influencing Factors of Cultural Tourism Government Short Video Dissemination Effectiveness

(3) Robustness Check

This study conducts robustness checks by increasing the PRI threshold while keeping other threshold parameters unchanged, adjusting the PRI threshold from 0.7 to 0.75 to obtain a new intermediate solution for influencing factors of cultural tourism government short video dissemination effectiveness, as shown in Table 7 [TABLE:7].

[TABLE:7] Intermediate Solution for Influencing Factors After PRI Adjustment

Table 7 shows that under the premise of keeping other threshold parameters unchanged, increasing the PRI threshold from 0.7 to 0.75 results in no significant changes to the output intermediate solution. Overall coverage changed from 0.22 to 0.21, overall consistency increased from 0.92 to 0.94, and the number of configurational pathways remains six, indicating that the research results are relatively robust.

(4) Configuration Path Analysis

Based on the intermediate and simple solution results output by fsQCA software, this study constructed a configuration path diagram. The diagram consists of solid circles and hollow circles for more vivid and clear result analysis. Four symbols in the configuration path diagram—"●," "●," "○X," and "○X"—represent different meanings: "●" and "●" indicate core condition presence and peripheral condition presence, respectively, while "○X" and "○X" indicate core condition absence and peripheral condition absence, respectively. Blank spaces in the table indicate that conditions may be either present or absent [33].

[TABLE:8] Configuration Path Diagram

Table 8 shows six combinational pathways, each with consistency greater than 0.8, with two pathways even achieving consistency of 1, indicating strong explanatory power of the six pathway combinations. Based on the D&M Information Systems Success Model introduced in this study and the characteristics of configurational pathways, the six configurational pathways are categorized into three types for analysis.

Type 1: System Quality-Oriented
System quality-oriented configurational pathways include Path 1 (S1) and Path 2 (S2). S1 is expressed as: $Y = T \times L \times \sim V \times TP \times AP \times H$, meaning effective cultural tourism government short video dissemination effectiveness = theme type × language type × non-video style × technical packaging × monthly posting volume × hashtag (#). S2 is expressed as: $Y = L \times \sim V \times R \times TP \times AP \times H$, meaning effective cultural tourism government short video dissemination effectiveness = language type × non-video style × posting time slot × technical packaging × monthly posting volume × hashtag (#).

Both configurational pathways share three core conditions: language type, monthly posting volume, and hashtag (#). S1's peripheral condition includes theme type, while S2's peripheral condition includes posting time slot. The two pathways show slight differences in peripheral conditions but both achieve effective configurational outcomes. Analysis reveals that both pathways tend to explore influencing factors of dissemination effectiveness from a system quality perspective, indicating that the frequency of cultural tourism government Douyin account postings and topic hashtags related to video content significantly impact dissemination effectiveness.

According to fsQCA software results, S1 is exemplified by Case 7: a short video released by Henan Provincial Department of Culture and Tourism in March 2024 explaining oracle bone script animation. The video presented background music and Mandarin narration, included relevant hashtags in the caption, and was posted in March 2024 when the Henan Provincial Department of Culture and Tourism's short video posting volume exceeded the monthly average. Meeting Path 1 (S1) conditions, it received 56,000 likes, demonstrating obvious dissemination effectiveness.

S2 is explained through Case 25: a short video released by Hebei Cultural Tourism Douyin account in April 2024, which as a policy promotion short video explained how caring car companies provided free pick-up services for Hebei tourists. As a policy promotion short video, it was assigned a value of 0 in preliminary coding, indicating theme type is a condition that may be present or absent in S2. Posted in April 2024 when Hebei Cultural Tourism account's short video posting volume exceeded the monthly average, the video caption included the hashtag "#ShijiazhuangVersionGuardiansOfTheGalaxy" that matched the video content. The video received 37,000 likes, indicating obvious dissemination effectiveness of Path 2 (S2).

Type 2: Service Quality-Oriented
Service quality-oriented configurational pathways include Path 3 (S3) and Path 5 (S5). S3 is expressed as: $Y = T \times L \times \sim V \times \sim R \times C \times TP \times AP$, meaning effective cultural tourism government short video dissemination effectiveness = theme type × language type × non-video style × comment response × technical packaging × monthly posting volume. S5 is expressed as: $Y = \sim T \times \sim L \times V \times R \times C \times TP \times \sim AP \times \sim H$, meaning effective cultural tourism government short video dissemination effectiveness = non-theme type × non-language type × video style × posting time slot × comment response × technical packaging × non-monthly posting volume.

Path 3 (S3) has core conditions of comment response and monthly posting volume, while Path 5 (S5) has core conditions of language type and comment response. Both pathways share comment response as a common core condition. However, the configuration path diagram shows certain differences in peripheral conditions between the two pathways, yet both achieve effective dissemination effectiveness, which is related to the presence of comment responses in cultural tourism government short videos.

S3 is explained through Case 87: a short video released by Shanxi Cultural Tourism introducing cultural relics from Shanxi Museum. Posted in June 2024 when Shanxi Cultural Tourism account's short video posting volume exceeded the monthly average, meeting the pathway's core condition, the video used animation to bring cultural relics to life with suitable background music to attract user attention. In the comment section, Shanxi Cultural Tourism account's official replies also included cute emojis, echoing the "attention-grabber" term in the short video caption, with one reply receiving 1,665 likes. The approachable image resulted in good dissemination effectiveness.

The typical case for S5 is Case 59, a short video by Sichuan Cultural Tourism using a song of Sichuan license plate numbers as background music supplemented by landscape features from various regions to promote Sichuan's characteristic landscapes in a humorous video style. The overall style of the case was relaxed and humorous due to the background music, attracting user browsing. Meanwhile, Sichuan Cultural Tourism officially responded to user comments. The humorous video style and witty comment responses earned the video 54,000 likes, 17,000 comments, and 20,000 forwards, achieving excellent dissemination effectiveness.

Type 3: Information Quality-Oriented
Information quality-oriented configurational pathways include Path 4 (S4) and Path 6 (S6). S4 is expressed as: $Y = T \times L \times \sim V \times R \times \sim C \times AP \times H$, meaning effective cultural tourism government short video dissemination effectiveness = theme type × language type × non-video style × posting time slot × technical packaging × hashtag (#). S6 is expressed as: $Y = T \times \sim L \times \sim V \times \sim R \times C \times TP \times \sim AP \times H$, meaning effective cultural tourism government short video dissemination effectiveness = theme type × non-language type × non-video style × non-posting time slot × comment response × technical packaging × non-monthly posting volume × hashtag (#).

Path 4 (S4) has core conditions of language type and monthly posting volume, with theme type, posting time slot, and hashtag (#) as peripheral conditions. Path 6 (S6) has theme type as the core condition, with comment response, technical packaging, and hashtag (#) as peripheral conditions. The two configurations share core condition variables in the same dimension, namely information quality, indicating that information quality-oriented cultural tourism government short videos achieve better dissemination effectiveness.

S4 is explained through Case 72: a short video released by Shanxi Cultural Tourism introducing Shanxi characteristic pasta. The video used Douyin APP's characteristic voice-over throughout, interspersed with Shanxi dialect "die (die) mian" (eating noodles), attracting user browsing through the combination of dialect and pasta images, thereby receiving 40,000 likes. Posted in January 2024 when Shanxi Cultural Tourism official Douyin account's video posting volume was 489, far exceeding the monthly average of 307, this case well explains the S4 configurational pathway.

S6 is explained through Case 120, a short video released by Shaanxi Cultural Tourism official Douyin account using Shaanxi license plate number songs as background music to showcase landscape features across Shaanxi, promoting local landscapes and characteristics. The video included topic hashtags, and the strong rhythm of background music was supplemented with subtitle and animation design. Technical packaging and hashtags as peripheral conditions had certain influence on dissemination effectiveness. According to Python-crawled data, the case was posted at 11:30 on June 16, 2024, and was assigned a value of 0.33 in preliminary coding, indicating that posting time had little effect in this pathway, while theme type served as the core condition. Therefore, this case demonstrates the explanatory power of the S6 pathway.

4. Conclusions and Implications

(1) Research Conclusions

With the rapid development of social media and short video platforms, government short videos have gradually become an important tool for government-public communication. How to effectively enhance government information dissemination effectiveness through these emerging platforms has become a significant topic in public administration research. This study takes cultural tourism government Douyin as an example, constructs an influencing factor model for cultural tourism government short video dissemination effectiveness from the three dimensions of the Information Systems Success Model, and employs fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis to obtain six configurational pathways for effective dissemination, revealing the conditional configurational relationships between relevant influencing factors and dissemination outcomes. The comprehensive research conclusions are as follows:

First, technical packaging is a necessary condition for government short video dissemination effectiveness. Technical packaging appears as a core condition in all high dissemination effectiveness configurational pathways, indicating that high-quality visual and auditory experiences are crucial for attracting user attention and enhancing dissemination effectiveness. Specifically, the reasonable application of subtitles, animation, and background music can significantly enhance video appeal and感染力, prompting users to like, comment, and share.

Second, information quality-oriented types significantly influence dissemination effectiveness. Information quality-oriented configurational pathways demonstrate that video content theme type, language type, and video style importantly affect dissemination effectiveness. Specifically, selecting themes with local characteristics and cultural heritage, using Mandarin or local dialects for narration, and employing humorous or serious video styles can effectively enhance video appeal and dissemination power.

Third, service quality and system quality are equally non-negligible. Service quality-oriented configurational pathways emphasize the importance of comment response—timely replies to user comments can enhance user participation and satisfaction, thereby improving dissemination effectiveness. System quality-oriented configurational pathways highlight the roles of monthly posting volume and hashtags. High-frequency posting and precise hashtags can increase video exposure and search efficiency, thereby expanding dissemination scope.

(2) Theoretical Contributions and Practical Implications

In terms of theoretical contributions, this study first enriches research on influencing factors of dissemination effectiveness in government short videos. Traditional research mostly explores short video communication strategies, dilemmas, and optimization from a journalism perspective, with few studies analyzing communication value and performance evaluation using Douyin accounts as examples. This study examines multiple cultural tourism Douyin accounts from the D&M Information Systems Success Model perspective. Second, existing research on government short video dissemination effectiveness mostly focuses on single dimensions or a few variables, lacking systematic analysis of complex interactions among multiple factors. This study's theoretical model not only covers three core dimensions—information quality, service quality, and system quality—but also reveals the joint driving effect of complex configurational relationships among these factors on dissemination effectiveness through fsQCA methods. This comprehensive and detailed theoretical framework provides a new perspective for understanding the multiple influencing factors of government short video dissemination effectiveness. Finally, multi-account configurational analysis enhances theoretical explanatory power and generalizability. Unlike previous studies on single accounts or small numbers of cases, this study's large-scale, multi-case approach significantly enhances theoretical explanatory power and generalizability. Through fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis, this study reveals the influence pathways and conditional configurational relationships of different factor combinations on dissemination effectiveness, providing more scientific and comprehensive guidance for optimizing government short video communication strategies. This multi-account configurational analysis not only verifies the robustness of the theoretical model but also provides strong evidence for its application in different contexts.

Regarding practical implications, first, creators of cultural tourism government Douyin accounts need to strengthen comment section responses. After posting short videos, creators should promptly monitor comment sections and provide timely answers to repetitive questions. As government agency promotional platforms, cultural tourism government short video creators need to respond promptly to user concerns and fulfill relevant responsibilities. Information not adequately explained in short videos should be promptly replied to and clarified in comment sections to strengthen interaction with the public and promote two-way information flow, breaking the traditional concept inherited from the "official website" era to the "micro-era" where government agencies focus on "publishing" (window display) rather than "dialogue" (organizing public discussion and consultation) [34].

Second, cultural tourism short video creators should thoroughly analyze video content when posting and select highly relevant hashtags to improve service quality for short videos on topics of user interest, achieving the purpose of government short videos. Creators should clarify the content of cultural tourism government short videos. For policy promotion short videos, hashtags should clearly include policy names to facilitate user searches for further relevant policy information and detailed understanding.

Third, creators should emphasize short video quality. During short video creation, they should select appropriate language types and video styles based on clear themes to present the best results. They should also pay attention to posting time. Creators should use data analysis tools to understand user habits, try posting the same type of videos at different times, and observe which time periods yield the highest view counts and interaction rates. Based on test results, posting strategies should be adjusted to select optimal posting times.

Fourth, cultural tourism government short video creators need to identify their role positioning. They should be adept at utilizing humorous and witty video styles,挖掘当地独特的文化、历史、风景和美食, and integrate them into cultural tourism government short video creation. Government short videos should break away from past serious styles and, based on the concept of transmitting core values, post video content themes that interest target audiences, enhancing cultural tourism account influence and shaping a positive government image of sustained tourism, cultural inheritance, and people-friendly service.

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Author Contribution Statement:
Author 1: Zhihui Liu
Author 2: Jie Dong
Author 3: Jiaqi Zhao