Involvement, Tate, and me

Abstract

The involvement construct has been explored in relation to products, services and leisure but not in an art museum context. The purpose of this paper is to address this theoretical gap by drawing on the marketing and leisure literature to understand members' consumption of Tate using the involvement construct.Tate, a portfolio of four art museums in the UK has more than 90,000 members that receive a benefits package in return for a membership fee. Data were collected using an interpretive, qualitative approach. 59 face to face semistructured interviews were conducted with Tate Members during spring 2008.The narratives expose the complexity in exploring the involvement construct and the analysis revealed six new involvement characteristics: 1) Centrality and Pleasure; 2) Desire to Learn; 3) Escapism: Spirituality and Creativity; 4) Sense of Belonging and Prestige; 5) Physical; and 6) Drivers of Involvement. These are discussed in the context of previous studies into museum consumption, services and leisure involvement literature. The authors discuss how these findings may be transferred to other settings and the managerial implications for marketers and membership managers are considered.

Drivers and motives for membership at the Southbank Centre, a mixed arts venue in London, UK

“…The flexibility that membership facilitates is what visual arts bookers value and replicates the findings of a study of Tate Members (Slater & Armstrong, 2010). There was some evidence of attachment to the venue but not the same aesthetic motives as classical and contemporary bookers exhibit.…”

“…These findings have not however been replicated in the UK, and a review of the heritage and gallery membership literature suggests a broader set of motives for becoming a member including aesthetic, hedonistic, material, political, self-interest, achievement orientated, self-identification and belonging motives although nomenclature varies across studies, sometimes making it difficult to see where there are commonalities (e.g. Bhattacharya, Hayagreeva, & Glynn, 1995;Bhattacharya, 1998;Bigley, Fesenmaier, & Roeh, 1994;Burns Sadek Research Ltd., 1992;Caldwell & Andereck, 1994;Glynn et al, 1996;Kleinschafer, Dowell, & Morrison, 2011;Lansley, 1996;Paswan & Troy, 2004;Slater, 2003Slater, , 2010aSlater, , 2010bSlater & Armstrong, 2010). The over-riding conclusion from critically reviewing these studies is that motives are complex and multidimensional and vary across sites and that quantitative studies are limited in providing insights into why people join and retain membership of galleries and heritage sites.…”

Social Inclusion Through Cultural Engagement Among Ethnic Communities

“…A number of factors have been suggested to motivate consumption such as involvement (Slater & Armstrong, 2010;Wohlfeil & Whelan, 2006), cost reductions (Garber, Muscarella, Bloom, & Spiker, 2000), social aspects and the quality of the performance (Garber et al, 2000;Kolb, 2002;Mencarelli, Marteaux, & Pulh, 2010;Woosnam et al, 2009), social interaction, entertainment and fun (J. K. L. Chan, 2009;Gofman, Moskowitz, & Mets, 2011;Woosnam et al, 2009), education (J. K. L. Chan, 2009;Woosnam et al, 2009), stakeholder inclusion (Capriello & Rotherham, 2011), links with other values (Barber, Kim, & Barth, 2013), and links between intercultural experiences and consumption experiences (Hartman, Meyer, & Scribner, 2009). However, social inclusion and arts attendance have not been extensively considered.…”

“…Much research into arts consumers has focused on factors that influence audience's motivation for attendance (i.e., Buch, Milne, & Dickson, 2011;Geissler, Rucks, & Edison, 2006;Kay, Wong, & Polonsky, 2009;Le & Fujimoto, 2011;Slater & Armstrong, 2010;Wohlfeil & Whelan, 2006;Woosnam, McElroy, & Van Winkle, 2009) and differences between motivation of Western and Asian tourists in attending cultural experiences (Kay, 2009). A number of factors have been suggested to motivate consumption such as involvement (Slater & Armstrong, 2010;Wohlfeil & Whelan, 2006), cost reductions (Garber, Muscarella, Bloom, & Spiker, 2000), social aspects and the quality of the performance (Garber et al, 2000;Kolb, 2002;Mencarelli, Marteaux, & Pulh, 2010;Woosnam et al, 2009), social interaction, entertainment and fun (J. K. L. Chan, 2009;Gofman, Moskowitz, & Mets, 2011;Woosnam et al, 2009), education (J. K. L. Chan, 2009;Woosnam et al, 2009), stakeholder inclusion (Capriello & Rotherham, 2011), links with other values (Barber, Kim, & Barth, 2013), and links between intercultural experiences and consumption experiences (Hartman, Meyer, & Scribner, 2009).…”

Members in Tourism Settings – Their Motivations, Behaviours and Roles

“…Membership studies at museums and in the heritage sector point out that members often are visitors (Holmes, 2003;Holmes and Edwards, 2008). However, studies of art museum members point out that there is a "paradox of buying membership and then not using its participating privileges" (Glynn et al, 1996, p. 260) indicating passive consumption as some members do not visit frequently or use other member benefits (Slater and Armstrong, 2010). Thus some members are non-visitors and may merely participate as financial supporters (Slater, 2003b).…”