Museum experience and its impact on visitor reactions

Abstract

Designing engaging visitor experiences has become a paramount concern for museums; however, a comprehensive understanding of the impact of museum experiences on visitors' reactions remains incomplete. Our paper aims to assist museums in implementing more effective strategies. By examining three distinct characteristics of museum experiences—subjectivity, multidimensionality, and co-creation—we formulate four hypotheses to assess the influence of visitor journeys on their reactions. We concentrate on the journey at the Capitoline Museums, employing qualitative and quantitative methods (in-depth interviews, subjective personal introspection, non-participant observation, and questionnaires) involving 110 participants. Our findings indicate that (a) Visitor attitudinal and behavioral reactions exhibit consistency for the overall experience but not when analyzed for specific areas; (b) Visitor satisfaction is correlated with the number of companions but not with the number of visited areas in the museum experience; (c) Visitor's apparent dominance over visitor satisfaction is not linked to visitor satisfaction. We develop a managerial decision-making framework that empowers museums to create captivating experiences for their visitors.