What makes a museum attractive to young people? Evidence from Italy

Abstract

The museums' ability to attract young people is drawing the increasing interest of scholars and practitioners. However, little is known about the factors that influence the museums' attractiveness to young audience. To fill such a gap, this paper investigates the entire population of Italian museums (N = 4.967). A quantile regression model was used, in order to identify the variables that positively affected young people's visits to Italian museums. The research findings suggested that museums should devise tailored strategies to attract young people. Digital tools, interorganizational relationships, and ancillary services were found to be respectively critical for small-sized, medium-sized, and big-sized museums.

Achieving Cultural Sustainability in Museums: A Step Toward Sustainable Development

“…On the basis of these preliminary results, the next step was to perform multiple linear regression in order to explore the relationship between DV and IVs [25]. Because there is a correlation between the exogenous variables (predictors) (see Table 6), we proposed two models to explain the link between the predictors and the DV, so that the multicollinearity effect can be avoided.…”

“…In this context, inclusiveness and openness are basic requirements for a socially responsible museum [48]. Beside improving the quality of people's lives, a socially responsible museum, with a visitor-centric perspective, is more attractive to community members and tourists [25]. This can lead to an increase in the financial resources the museum manages to attract from various sources (visitors, government, donors, sponsors).…”

“…In particular, technological innovation was found to be a source of competitive advantage for museums [32] and, consequently, it could have a great impact on cultural sustainability as well. Other possible factors could include web-based services and digital tools [67], which were found to be relevant regressors of the museums' attractiveness [25]; financial structure and organizational size, which impact the level of performance in museums [45]; and retailing activities, which are a source of self-generated revenue [44].…”

“…Moreover, cultural heritage is an essential resource for economic development. Museums are an important attraction for visitors and play a critical role in the field of cultural tourism [25]. Cultural heritage can also be used to develop educational programs and exhibitions that highlight the human-nature relationship and shape the values, attitudes, and behaviors of people, so as to include an ecological focus [18].…”

The impact of museum interpretation tour on visitors' engagement and post‐visit conservation intentions and behaviours

“…Overall, the findings of this study add value to existing literature by providing empirical evidence indicating that museum on‐site interactive interpretation has the potential to promote visitors' post‐visit pro‐environmental behaviours and sustainable conservation actions. Ensuring that visitors to museums experience high levels of engagement and transformational interactions is a key element of ensuring that museums meet their educational responsibilities and remain an attractive destination for a broad range of consumers (Manna & Palumbo, 2018). As empirical evaluations of conservation education continue to attract attention from researchers (Thomas, Teel, Bruyere, & Laurence, 2019), this study's findings reveal that the impacts of interpretative activities show promise in relation to having an enduring impact on attitudes and behaviours and that there is value in maintaining engagement with visitors in order to trigger ongoing post‐visit reflections on environmental sustainability.…”