In the frame: investigating the use of mobile phone photography in museums

• The ubiquitous use of mobile phone technology to capture photographic images has rapidly become an accepted feature of our social and cultural lifestyle. From the capture of photographic images in a social setting to the evening news reports of the 7/7 suicide bombings that led with phone video footage taken by a member of the public, mobile phone photography has rapidly become embedded in everyday life and presents a new set of challenges for marketers in all sectors. Within the heritage sector, mobile phone photography presents new methods for visitors to interact with and interpret historic sites, buildings and artefacts. This paper explores the use of mobile phone photography within the museum setting through an empirical study conducted at the National Football Museum in Preston, UK. It discusses the role of mobile phone photography in the visitor experience, in formal and informal learning provision, in stimulating the motivation to learn and in encouraging social interaction with visitor groups. The paper concludes with the identification of potential marketing opportunities for the museum and wider heritage sector.

Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

‘Escaping to the gallery’: understanding the motivations of visitors to galleries

• Whilst market research and academic studies by sociologists have identified the personal and socio-cultural factors that influence visits to galleries, there has been less attention to the area of motivational research. Understanding motivations is important as it reveals the underlying reasons why visitors choose to participate in specific leisure activities. This paper focuses on the motivations of two groups of visitors at events at an art gallery. A pre-tested motivational scale built around three factors, learning, social/family interaction and Escapism explained 71.5% of variance. Escapism explained 29.4% of that variance and was the core motivation. The findings of the research are important to both academics and practitioners as previously learning was thought to be the main motivation. This study should be replicated in other settings to evaluate whether gallery and museum managers need to re-consider the purpose, content and marketing of their programmes in a post-modern society.

Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Retaining the visitor,enhancing the experience: identifying attributes of choice in repeat museum visitation

• How people make choices in relation to cultural and leisure consumption has been explored from the viewpoint of motivation, lifestyle segmentation, and lifecycle. Little is known about the specific characteristics associated with choices to visit, re‐visit, or not to visit a museum. Understanding characteristics of choice, developing incentives, bundled packages, and levels of pricing is an essential element in marketing strategies for museums operating in a competitive leisure marketplace. However, determining what really matters to cultural consumers is complex and methodologies to assist in unraveling such complexities are not easily identified. This study aimed to address ways in which people respond to specific incentives as influences in choosing museum visitation. The study was conducted in two major museums in Australia to determine how useful choice modeling is in identifying features that matter to cultural consumers. The results suggest that choice modeling has much to offer in relation to understanding the benefits people are seeking from a museum experience as well as offering strategic insight into potential collaborative ventures and re‐combinations of existing museum products and services.

Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The General Public and the Art Museum: Case Studies of Visitors to Several Institutions Identify Characteristics of Weir Publics

Abstract . From case studies at several art museums, characteristics of several types of museum goers have been identified. Typically museum visitors are in the upper educational, occupational and income groups, younger than the population in general (average age is 34) and active in community and leisure-time organizations. Frequent visitors do so to be with people, to do something they consider worthwhile, to use surroundings in which they feel comfortable and at ease, to be challenged by new experiences, to use an opportunity to learn and to participate actively in an experience they value. Replication in the U.S. of a classic study in England corroborates its findings.     

(Rethinking) the measurement of service quality in museums and galleries

Measurement of service quality has been instrumental in making service industries more competitive. The new era of accountability in the museum sector means that if museums and galleries are to be successful in growing visitor numbers and developing greater access, they must learn more about the factors that are important to visitors' evaluation of service quality. The aim of this study is to understand the concepts that are significant to visitors engaging in museum experiences. A repertory grid study was conducted among visitors to 11 prominent London museums; the results suggest that there is greater variety of factors influencing their decisions than is measured by traditional approaches to visitor satisfaction surveys. Copyright © 2002 Henry Stewart Publications     

Fair-trade beliefs,attitudes and buying behaviour of Belgian consumers

• A survey of 858 Belgians (615 people drawn from the general public and 243 visitors to Oxfam World Shops), examined the knowledge, beliefs, attitudes and behaviour of consumers with respect to fair-trade issues. The results showed that the respondents' knowledge and attitudes generally supported the fair-trade concept. However, many of the people questioned believed that fair-trade organizations should provide more and better information on fair-trade products, especially in shops and on the items themselves. In addition, fair-trade products should be more readily available in regular supermarkets, and their price should be lowered. The most interesting socio-demographic target group for non-profit fair-trade organizations appears to be older people with higher education and income. Consumers from the south (French-speaking) part of Belgium in general have a more positive attitude towards fair trade.

Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Tainted museums: ‘selling out’ cultural institutions

• This paper examines the role of museums as repositories of cultural meaning and symbolic capital. As educational and cultural institutions, museums serve to legitimise works of art within the frame of an art historical context. However, our comparative case study reveals how the taken‐for‐granted role of the museum as an allegedly unbiased platform for disseminating the arts can be usurped for economic or political ends. Using the cultural settings of the Hong Kong Museum of Art and the Venezuelan art museum circuit, we examine via our case studies how legitimation in the arts may be jeopardised or misused if and when cultural institutions succumb to commercial and political pressures. By adopting a qualitative research design, we observe the macro‐context in which institutional roles are defined and played out, and demonstrate the ideological discourses at play in the role of these cultural institutions as meaning‐makers. Although they may be presented as neutral spaces, museums inadvertently serve to circulate socio‐political views. How the institution manages these views and unavoidable macro‐level forces will in turn influence the cultural credibility of the museum framework as a legitimising force on the cultural horizon. Attention is devoted to how these pressures can affect the production and consumption of art, offering an alternative perspective on the development of museum policies.

Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Charity shops as second‐hand markets

This paper considers several implications of the fact that charity shops are part of the wider class of second‐hand markets. This approach attempts to complement research on other features of charity shops like the distinctive nature of voluntary work and the identities of charity shop consumers. It is argued that the functioning of second‐hand markets highlights some limitations in traditional models of consumer behaviour. This gives charity shops (and second‐hand markets in general) an important role in developing more effective theories of consumption. At the same time, there are more practical reasons for being aware of the limitations of existing theories. In particular, marketing for charity shops will be ineffective if their functions are misunderstood. The paper also illustrates how these theoretical insights have practical implications. Copyright © 2000 Henry Stewart Publications     

Marketing of cultural institutions in French-speaking Switzerland

• Marketing in cultural institutions is a field that has rarely been studied in French-speaking Switzerland so far.
• Therefore this paper explores the way in which visitors-clients appreciate qualitatively their contacts with cultural institutions concerned with the visual arts in comparison with the communication strategy of the curators and directors of museums.
• A survey has been conducted amongst 20 museums and over 200 visitors of French-speaking Switzerland to evaluate the way visitors perceive the marketing of cultural institutions and behave accordingly or not.
• The paper concludes with recommendations to improve the knowledge of the visitors' background and expectations.

Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Charting service ecosystems flexibility: A museum setting

The service ecosystems perspective has rarely been applied in literature tackling the nonprofit and voluntary sectors. Service ecosystems are defined as self-adjusting systems of resource-integrating actors connected by shared institutional arrangements and mutual value creation. By addressing service ecosystems flexibility (i.e., the ability of service ecosystems to adjust to changes), this article seeks to provide a framework that charts service ecosystems flexibility and explains its pillars, as well as the ways in which new technologies affect visitors and arts. The study focuses on service ecosystems changes initiated by technology, visitors, and organizers, aimed at increasing the level of museum visitors' experience. The study is performed in a service ecosystem comprising a sculpture arts exhibition and its online extensions in the form of Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter accounts. Collected data consist of interviews with the exhibition visitors and organizers, participative observations performed in the exhibition context, and online posts and media coverage related to the exhibition. The research process is iterative and abductive, continuously combining insights that emerge from the literature and the analyzed data through triangulation. The main findings emphasize organizers' pivotal role as the actor that orchestrates value cocreation in the service ecosystem by steering this process based on emerging changes. Additionally, the findings flesh out the role of technology in a service ecosystem and offer a more comprehensive view of service ecosystems flexibility.     

Engaging consumers in esthetic offerings: conceptualizing and developing a measure for arts engagement

• As the arts face a number of challenges, including changing audience tastes and inconsistent ticket purchasing behavior, there have been calls for innovative approaches to marketing. Experts in the field have suggested that “engaging experiences” in the arts be cultivated to aid in audience development efforts. However, in the literature, little attention has been devoted to defining what encompasses an “engaging experience” in the arts. This research addresses this gap by exploring the concept of “engagement in the arts” and developing a measurement tool, which accesses overall “arts engagement.” It applies emerging theories from the customer engagement and brand experience literatures to conceptualize “arts engagement.” In four studies, an arts engagement scale is tested for its validity, reliability, and its relationship with important outcomes in the consumption experience. Implications are discussed for marketing the arts as well as other consumption contexts that incorporate performance and artistic‐based elements, including service delivery and experiential marketing.

Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The impact of creativity on performance in non-profits

• This article examines how creative climate affects learning orientation and its relationship to organizational performance. The study also assesses creativity's link with market orientation, entrepreneurial orientation, and organizational flexibility. Past research on creativity climate has explored areas such as the arts, high-tech, information technology, media, and the sciences. The focus of this study is to assess creativity's role in managerial decision-making in the non-profit sector. Sound use of creativity can improve planning, implementation, and control by non-profit organization executives.

Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

An empirical analysis of job shop dispatch rule selection

Job shop scheduling usually includes the process of selecting dispatch rules for loading shops with work. Traditionally, dispatch rules have been formed on the basis of processing time, operating time, or queueing order. A job shop scheduling model was developed to include external factors (such as due dates), internal factors (e.g., capacity), as well as influence factors (e.g., job status). Based on the model developed in this report a survey of industrial engineers, shop foremen, and production control supervisors was undertaken to determine what dispatch rules experienced job shop schedulers would select and if the selection process could be influenced by schedule conditions (status) or other organizational factors. Results suggest that schedulers may be influenced by other factors. This article suggests a model for further research with respect to job shop scheduling.     

Small,Local and Cheap? Walkable and Car-oriented Retail in Competition

Abstract

I develop a model of competition between walkable shops, and other shops whose customers drive (car-oriented shops). Walkable shops operate in monopolistic competition within a local area, or neighbourhood. A small cost advantage for car-oriented shops can turn into a larger price advantage. High prices in walkable shops effect a regressive transfer from poorer to richer consumers, since the poorer are less likely to have cars. Internalizing environmental and social costs of urban automobile use could reduce prices and increase capacity utilization in walkable shops in more densely populated local areas. Many common combinations of planning and pricing tools fail to internalize important costs, and may actually subsidize driving to shop, but a combination of planning and the pricing (through taxation) of retail parking could effectively internalize the relevant costs.     

Charity shops in sectoral contexts: the view from the boardroom

Charity shops seem inherently contradictory in many ways. This paper unravels some of the contradictions by analysing charity shops in their ‘sectoral contexts’. First it puts forward different meanings of ‘sector’ and introduces notions of ‘sector values’. Then it presents results from empirical research into UK charity shop organisations, to show how senior managers of charity shop chains deal with ‘sectoral contradictions’. Finally, it asks how the sectoral contexts influence the management philosophies and marketing strategies (in the broadest sense) of these senior managers. Copyright © 2000 Henry Stewart Publications     

Internal competition in a nonprofit museum context: development of a scale

• External competition and marketing have been extensively researched in the for-profit environment and to a lesser extent in the nonprofit environment. However, the concept of competition within a nonprofit organization is indicative of another type of competition, that of ‘internal competition’. Internal competition, operating in the nonprofit's endemic environment of scarce resources, takes place between departments, between individuals, and even within individuals in terms of time and energy spent on differing objectives. Internal competition manifests itself as internal conflicts over not only objectives but also the means for achieving the objectives. This research examines the construct of ‘internal competition’ in the museum portion of the nonprofit sector where marketing is often seen as a ‘necessary but evil’ tool essential for survival. Museum retailing, which has taken on an increasingly vital role in the financial support of museums, offers an opportunity to analyze the nature of internal competition and for developing a scale for measuring internal competition.

Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

An analysis of interrelationships between project management and student‐experience constructs

This article seeks to explore, through the utilization of correlational analysis, how the parameters that impact the student experience may be interrelated. We found that the experiences of students studying project management appear to be heavily influenced by e‐resource provisions and the actual experiences that the students are subjected to when using virtual learning environments (VLEs). These findings support previous research acknowledging that information and communications technology (ICT) plays an important role in teaching and learning project management. Students' experience of interpersonal skills also correlated uniquely and significantly with other constructs, supporting the premise that learning is integral to the development of interpersonal skills. Discussion surrounds the interdependency of student experiences adding to their learning and how future research should consider larger and more diverse samples to establish exactly what constructs detract and/or add to their learning in project management, which could then contribute to pedagogical discourse in other disciplines.     

A qualitative investigation into the donor lapsing experience

• Donor attrition is costing charities a fortune. Previous research has examined the relative importance of the antecedents to donor loyalty versus lapsing. This study qualitatively builds on this. It reports the results of workshops and interviews that took lapsers and donors back through their donor and lapser journeys. It drills down into and unpacks their experiences—inclusive of the (previously undocumented) lapsing experience itself. It reveals striking similarities between the cancellation of a direct debit and other more conventional purchase decisions. Most worryingly, it seems that most people stop supporting a given charity because they had never really had any loyalty to it in the first place. Charities are not meeting people's needs as donors. There is a distinct lack of understanding between charities and their donors, and donors are lapsing because charities give them little reason to stay. The authors conclude with practical recommendations for the management of attrition.

Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Employee participation: some problems for some shop stewards

It is often felt that shop stewards experience a variety of problems through their role in systems of employee participation. Here the authors report on research which illustrates the stewards' fears and concerns, and show that these may vary from one workplace to another.     

G7 consumption: after the wealth rush

• ? In only one of 12 large advanced economies do we expect consumption to outstrip GDP growth in 2018. As key drivers rotate, the impact of a recovery in real incomes will be dampened by higher oil prices and waning wealth effects .
• ? Policy‐fuelled asset booms sustained the post‐crisis recovery in G7 consumption, though by historical standards the recovery was nothing special. Historically, the G7's average 5‐year recovery from troughs entailed consumption matching GDP growth, but in the five years from 2010 consumption was 0.2 ppt weaker. Its relative strength only picked up from 2015, when boosted by weak oil prices.
• ? Relatively weak G7 consumption growth is likely to continue as key drivers rotate. Strong employment growth and a modest pick‐up in wage inflation will offset waning equity and housing wealth effects.
• ? Near‐term risks are two‐way. An oil‐fuelled inflation surprise could hit consumers, wreck central bank gradualism and reveal balance sheet weaknesses. Currently, however, we see only limited pockets of credit risk and vulnerability to higher rates.
• ? Conversely, there is scope for a credit‐fuelled boost to consumption. G7 household borrowing relative to its trend is arguably close to 40‐year lows, so unless financial deepening has reached a limit, there is scope for increases in borrowing. Furthermore, G7 bank deleveraging could be over, boosting credit supply conditions.
• ? We see two positive longer‐term drivers of the global consumption share: (i) Asian economies will become more consumption‐driven; (ii) Household re‐leveraging offers scope for some debt‐fuelled consumption growth. Offsetting negatives are that demographics, interest rates and asset prices will provide little support