Examining residents’ willingness to pay for cultural and ecological heritage preservation: integrating contingent valuation method with fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis

This study examines residents’ willingness to pay (WTP) to preserve the Cultural Landscape of the Old Tea Forests of Jingmai Mountain in China by combining the contingent valuation method (CVM) with fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (FsQCA). CVM results reveal that tea-drinking habits, sustainable intelligence, cultural worldview, nature-centric views, and income positively influence WTP. Mean annual truncated WTP is estimated to be 204 CNY (US$28.18) per resident, yielding an aggregate preservation value of 490.39 million CNY (US$67.73 million). This value is comprised of bequest (58.8%), existence (23.6%), and option value (17.6%). FsQCA identifies two core pathways towards willingness to pay for preservation: (1) nature-centric views combined with high income, and (2) tea-drinking habits, regardless of income level associated with respondents. FsQCA results suggest that cultural factors can partially override income constraints in preservation valuation decisions. Overall results provide a basis for identifying preservation funding targets and reveal that policymakers can enhance WTP through economic development and cultural reinforcement strategies.