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The purpose of this paper is to propose a new management approach to analyse the processes of museums in the experience logic and, on the basis of such a model, to study the management processes of the National Gallery of the Marches in Urbino, one of the most important museums in Italy.

This study adopted a qualitative methodology and a descriptive-exploratory approach. The proposed model, which aimed to create and manage experiences and transformations in museums, was tested in the National Gallery of the Marches by adopting the case study method.

The empirical research underlined the partial application of the proposed model in the museum under examination and the potential for the museum to improve the offering value to its visitors.

Although a single case was investigated, the present work offers a preliminary theoretical contribution, which is useful for perfecting the conceptual framework and applying it to a wider number of cases.

The management of the National Gallery of the Marches should first plan a greater number of more detailed experiences and transformations around the theme of the Renaissance, and promote the active role of visitors. Second, it should improve the communication of the offer, especially through social networks. Third, personnel (especially front office) should be motivated and trained to create value for visitors.

The paper aims at developing a new management approach for the museums to create value for the visitors and museums by bringing the insight of the experience logic into the field of cultural heritage management.

The paper offers a comprehensive understanding of how digital transformation affects business models and how firms operate and compete effectively and successfully in a digital economy.

The research adopted an abductive approach (Dubois and Gadde, 2002) through constant movement between theory and empirical evidence. A systematic literature review led the first conceptual development and examples of practices from cultural heritage sectors were used in the theorizing process.

This paper depicts a digital model framework through a set of assumptions about how an organization creates and delivers value in an interconnected way by orchestrating new interactive processes, and providing experience propositions to customers, and about how value is framed in terms of economic, social and cultural outcomes.

The study contributes to the scientific debate by discussing the role of digital business models as enhancements more rather than replacements of traditional business models; it frames a digital business model as consisting of three main pillars: value orchestration, experience propositions and value sharing.

The evolving visitors' expectations and the unfolding digital transformation compel rethinking on the service offering of museums and cultural institutions. Although digitalization and people-centeredness are widely exploited to enhance the visiting experience, there is limited evidence of their implications on organizational attractiveness. The article investigates this issue, examining the service attributes that entice visitors.

The study collected secondary data from the latest census study by the Italian Institute of Statistics on museums and cultural institutions. Two hierarchical regression models have been run on a sample of large publicly owned organizations (n = 312) to identify the service factors that were most effective in attracting Italian and foreign visitors.

Museums and cultural institutions undergoing a digital transformation were more effective in attracting visitors. The delivery of virtual tours and online events captivated the Italian audience. Foreigners appreciated the opportunity to use applications augmenting the on-site visit.

Digitalization and people-centeredness improve the attractiveness of museums and cultural institutions. Using digital channels to engage visitors fosters their desire to interact with cultural heritage. Furthermore, digitalization enriches the on-site visit, expanding conventional services with virtuality. However, the adverse effects on cultural heritage should be carefully handled.

This study highlights the service attributes that add to the attractiveness of museums and cultural institutions, enabling them to engage visitors and improve the visiting experience.

This paper aims to analyse the quality of experience in the Italian art museum context and to understand the mediating role of satisfaction between museum experiences and visitors' word-of-mouth (WOM) behavioural intentions.

This exploratory study adopted a quantitative methodology. Visitors to Italian art museums were interviewed, and the results were examined using exploratory factor analysis and regression analysis.

The analysis shows that the following museum experience dimensions were present in the Italian art museum context: aesthetics, escapism and “edumotion”. Further, these dimensions positively affected visitors' overall satisfaction which mediates on WOM behavioural intentions.

The small sample limits the generalisability of findings, and further research on the topic is recommended.

Museums should allocate resources to improve visitor experience, visitor satisfaction and museum attractions. Specifically, museum managers should invest in the three dimensions that emerged from this study.

This study enriches the empirical evidence on experiential marketing in the museum context by focussing on the mediating role of overall satisfaction in the relationship between museum experience and WOM behaviours. To the best of the authors' knowledge, this is the first study investigating this phenomenon in Italian museums.

This study aims to develop an all-encompassing model to analyse various aspects of atmospherics, including components of the museum space and its physical surroundings. Moreover, it evaluates whether the identified attributes of the “museumscape” affect the positive word of mouth of museum visitors.

This exploratory study adopts a quantitative methodology. Data were collected through direct interviews with visitors at three Italian art museums and through a structured questionnaire. All dimensions were measured with multiple items on a five-point Likert scale. To assess the influence of the museumscape attributes on positive word of mouth, a structural equation model is performed adopting the two-stage testing procedure estimating the measurement model in the first stage and running a confirmatory factor analysis to assess reliability and demonstrate convergent and discriminant validity for all multi-item measures.

Six attributes of the museumscape are delineated (ambient conditions; facilities and convenience; signs and signage; staff behaviour; art gallery quality; exhibition space aesthetics). The latter three positively influence visitors' positive word of mouth.

The study expands frameworks from previous service museum marketing research in general and service museum research on atmospherics in particular. The framework developed here identifies the direct predictive power of museumscape cues on positive museum visitor's word of mouth, thus increasing knowledge of the customer service experience and service quality and atmospherics management.

The constructs discovered here may help museum managers to carefully design and manage the museumscape to enhance visitors' satisfaction and loyalty.

This study is the first application of servicescape theory in the museum context; previous applications focus on for-profit sectors.

The purpose of this research aims at extending the knowledge on whether and how universities include sustainability dimensions in managing their collections. Precisely, the study focusses on the creation of a university museum (UM), as an embryonic stage of life during which management concerns both strategic and operational issues.

Sustainability is envisioned as a multifaceted concept, composed of the economic, cultural, environmental and social dimensions. Resorting to an acknowledged theoretical model for sustainable development in museum management, a qualitative interpretative study is carried out, gathering data from multiple sources. The empirical setting is the University of Pavia, which has recently created a new Museum of Natural History (Kosmos).

Results highlight how sustainability dimensions intertwin in UM creation. Moreover, the economic dimension emerges as a basement for the others. Value for the community, expressed in economic terms, must be ensured in UMs creation as well as throughout its entire life, in order to support cultural, environmental and social sustainability.

Focussing on the embryonic stage of UMs life allowed to consider how sustainability is embedded in relevant strategic and operational decisions. Nevertheless, scholars are encouraged to replicate the study in other stages of UMs' life, in a way to provide insights on its dynamics.

University collections managers can benefit from this research by acknowledging the role played by the economic dimension of sustainability. Notwithstanding their mission, universities should pay attention to extracting economic value from the management of their collections, as a means to ensure innovative and sustainable management on the cultural, environmental and social respects. Furthermore, this research suggests how a higher education system is able to create a new museum by relying on interdisciplinary competencies, which support sustainability since the embryonic stage.

This research contributes to the cultural heritage management literature by proposing an updated version of the sustainable development model for museums, which highlights the different relevance of the sustainability dimensions with particular regard to the UM creation and management.

This paper explores the dimensions and triggers of memorable tourism experiences (MTEs) from the service provider perspective. Specifically, it focuses on MTEs offered by tourism social enterprises (TSEs) in Italian tourist destinations that are growing in popularity.

This study adopted a qualitative approach using Gioia methodology. After a preliminary email survey, data were collected from Italian TSEs using semi-structured interviews.

MTE dimensions include hedonism, novelty, refreshment, local culture, meaningfulness, knowledge, involvement, surprise and servicescape, while its triggers relate to TSE characteristics – value proposition (authenticity and unconventionality), value constellation (relationships with local communities and public and private institutions) and social and economic profit (generation of revenue, strengthening of business and new employment opportunities). Using these results, this study proposes a model for TSEs to create MTEs.

This study advances the MTE research in relation to TSEs, a specific category of tourism company that plays an essential role in contemporary tourism.

This study makes recommendations to TSE managers on how to create and effectively manage MTEs to ensure survival and competition in the global market.

This analysis highlights that TSEs contribute to improving the social conditions of little-known areas through the development of inclusive social projects and the creation of new job opportunities.

To the best of the authors' knowledge, this is the first study to examine MTEs from the TSE service provider perspective.

Recommendation systems are widely used in tourism in order to provide people personalized suggestions that would make their trip memorable. Nowadays, mobile assisted guided tours based on recommendation services are used in museums to enhance visitors ’ experience. However, all those systems have been designed to target indoor or outdoor museum visits. Is it feasible to design a system that supports mobile services that connect a museum visit to artworks situated outdoor in the city environment? Is it possible to connect the artworks of a city center to the exhibits of a museum? In this work, we attempt to give a first answer to such questions proposing and implementing a set of services that connects the museum to the city public space. In order to show the strength of the implemented services, we present a basic usage scenario along with a first system evaluation showing positive results.

Purpose: In the experience economy, the main challenge for museums is not only to attract visitors but also to preserve artworks. Given this circumstance, this chapter aims to offer an overview of how these cultural organisations have emerged as labs of the future culture, where all kind of technological experiments are tested so as to fulfil their mission.

Design/methodology/approach: This chapter is based on extensive literature review on issues related to robots, artificial intelligence and service automation (RAISA) in the museum sector. Examples illustrate the role of technology in the experience design and preservation of cultural resources.

Findings: 1) A chronological framework of museums’ orientations is established to understand the evolution toward the technology-driven present period. 2) Robots, artificial intelligence and service automation have a meaningful contribution to make in guaranteeing visitor arrivals. 3) This technological phase requires a tourism workforce with new skills.

Research limitations/implications: Few academic studies concerning to the use of robots, artificial intelligence and service automation in the museum sector were found. Hence, more empirical studies are required to completely corroborate the chapter’s suggestions.

Practical implications: An enlightening path for the service design of multisensory and participatory is proposed, as a useful guide for heritage managers, marketing practitioners and tourism planners.

Originality/value: Museum management has been always receiving the attention of managers, policymakers, scholars, among others. Insights of how technology enhances heritage preservation and the improvement of museum services throughout numerous examples can direct them to increase knowledge and adopt these practices.

Eco-museums safeguard the cultural authenticity and the historical identity of the place in which they operate. Conventional organizational models and management practices are generally employed to achieve this institutional aim. Conversely, innovative solutions – such as digitization – are overlooked. Adopting a service quality management perspective, the article intends to examine the role of managerialization and professionalization in triggering eco-museums' digitization.

An empirical analysis involving 126 eco-museums operating in Italy as of 2018 was designed to investigate the implications of managerialization and professionalization on the eco-museums' propensity to embark on a digitization process. Two different forms of digitization were examined: (1) the presence of eco-museums in the digital environment; and (2) the exploitation of digital tools for service delivery. The mediating role of two “soft” total quality management (TQM) practices, i.e. people centredness and strategic focus on visitors' experience, was contemplated in the empirical analysis.

The research findings suggest that managerialization and professionalization have ambiguous effects on eco-museums' digitization. Nevertheless, they indirectly contribute to a greater digital presence of eco-museums and to a larger use of digital tools for service delivery through an increased use of soft TQM practices.

Managerialization and professionalization are likely to foster the digital transition of eco-museums, which advances their ability to protect and promote the local cultural heritage. Soft TQM practices intended to achieve people-centredness and to enhance the visitors' experience should be exploited to stimulate the eco-museums' digitization.

The article examines the triggers of eco-museums' digitization, providing some food for thought to scholars and practitioners.