The muse with a wandering eye: the influence of public value on coproduction in museums

ABSTRACT

Across management, marketing, public administration and museology literature, coproduction has been presented as an innovative approach to service improvement. This case study of the Australian museum sector contributes to the instrumentalisation debate, by revealing the potential inhibitors to such improvements when coproduction distracts rather than enhances the work of cultural institutions. While public value requires the strategic cultural manager to negotiate between ‘upstream audiences’ (government and funding bodies) and ‘downstream audiences’ (users and the body politic), these two groups appear to exert different levels of influence. This research suggests that upstream audiences currently absorb the attention of museums. As a result, the manner in which museums coproduce, and the motivations for this work, appear to be geared towards advocating the public value of museums to government and funding bodies. This case study suggests that museums sacrifice the service innovations and exhibition enhancements offered by coproduction (intrinsic outcomes) to pursue government funding and support (instrumental outcomes).

KEYWORDS:

• Museums
• coproduction
• public value
• instrumental outcomes
• intrinsic outcomes

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Anne Kershaw

Anne Kershaw is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Management and teaches into Deakin’s Arts & Cultural Management program. Her research focus is organisational behaviour in the cultural sector, with a particular interest in collaboration, organisational change and audience development. She has also been involved in a number of major arts industry funded evaluation and research projects. Anne originally trained as a museum curator, and worked in arts and cultural roles in local and state government for many years before becoming an academic.

Kerrie Bridson

Kerrie Bridson is Associate Professor (Marketing) and Associate Dean Teaching and Learning within the Faculty of Business and Law, Deakin University. Her major areas of research and consulting include stakeholder engagement, branding, arts and place based marketing in addition to visitor experience and engagement. Kerrie is a joint researcher on a number of funded projects and publications assisting the marketing and branding capability and capacity development of the arts and creative industries.

Melissa A. Parris

Melissa Parris is a Senior Lecturer in Deakin Business School’s Department of Management. Her research and teaching are primarily in the field of organisational behaviour, with a particular focus on individuals’ workplace experiences and the personal effects of these, as well as the related area of qualitative research. Melissa’s research activities have included areas such as middle management, workplace teams, experiences of downsizing, experiences of migrant managers, and the concept of authenticity in the workplace.