Ian Fillis, Kim Lehman, Ruth Rentschler and Boram Lee
This paper aims to provide clarity on arts marketing during COVID-19 by undertaking a critical review and theoretical integration of published cultural and creative industries…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to provide clarity on arts marketing during COVID-19 by undertaking a critical review and theoretical integration of published cultural and creative industries (CCIs) data on the pandemic.
Design/methodology/approach
The study draws on the findings from a content analysis of published refereed journal articles and research reports, between 2020 and 2022.
Findings
This study clarifies how scholars in the arts marketing field have examined the concept and identified core dimensions. It also brings together these conceptual categories into an integrative multilevel framework of relevance for arts marketing during COVID-19. The framework outlines interconnected processes as well as dualities, such as digitisation, monetisation and sustainability of the CCIs and poses a future centred on entrepreneurial actions.
Originality/value
The originality of the paper is that it provides clear-cut evidence for new frontiers for research in the field during a period of discontinuous change due to COVID-19, through a literature review that has not been undertaken previously. It links the need to be entrepreneurial as a means for the CCIs to survive and thrive during and after a global crisis.
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Julia Richardson, Uma Jogulu and Ruth Rentschler
The purpose of this paper is to examine the role of social capital for career success and sustainability among arts managers and the implication for human resource practice.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine the role of social capital for career success and sustainability among arts managers and the implication for human resource practice.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper is a qualitative study comprising interviews with 73 arts managers in Australia.
Findings
While answering an occupational calling and having a sense of passion for the arts is a key driver to embark upon a career in arts management, it is social capital that is essential for both objective and subjective career success and thus for career sustainability. The authors also identify the value of education, global experience and well-honed soft skills for building social capital.
Research limitations/implications
The study is located in Australia – arts management in other national contexts and industries may be different.
Practical implications
This paper identifies the need for arts managers to develop heterogeneous social capital to support both career success and sustainability. It also indicates that whereas passion for the arts may be an important driver, other skills and competencies are required. Both of these themes need to be incorporated into human resource practice in the arts industry.
Social implications
This paper demonstrates the growing need to acknowledge the impact of relational social capital in the arts in an increasingly volatile work environment.
Originality/value
This paper fills the gap in our understanding of careers that bridge both the arts and management as professional domains of activity and extends understanding on the role of social capital in management careers more generally.
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Emma Winston, Ahmed Shahriar Ferdous, Ruth Rentschler, Fara Azmat and Nichola Robertson
This study aims to elucidate the value creation process within a culturally diversified museum (CDM), which aims to achieve social inclusion, i.e. bridging the social divide…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to elucidate the value creation process within a culturally diversified museum (CDM), which aims to achieve social inclusion, i.e. bridging the social divide between mainstream and minority communities, through the integration of CDM’s and visitors’ resources. Using service logic (SL) theory as the theoretical lens, we aim to unveil the CDM’s unique service provider and customer (visitor) resources, the corresponding resource integration process that explains value co-creation and co-destruction and the resultant value outcomes for social inclusion.
Design/methodology/approach
A case study of an Australian CDM is used, involving various qualitative data sources, including depth interviews, focus groups, visitor book content analysis, on-site observation and participation in the CDM’s events and forums.
Findings
The findings provide insights into the unique CDM and visitor resources that are integrated to achieve value outcomes that foster social inclusion. However, the results suggest that alongside value co-creation, co-destruction can unfold, causing a (mis)alignment with the aim of the CDM to bridge the social divide between mainstream and minority communities.
Practical implications
This study’s findings offer salient implications for CDMs and similar service providers that enables social inclusion and policymakers.
Originality/value
This study contributes to the service domain by highlighting the importance of the alignment between provider and customer resources to co-create value within a culturally diversified context. That is, CDMs can learn from the misalignment of their resources and those of their visitors to improve their resource offerings and achieve greater social inclusion outcomes in the future.
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Maria Jacinta Arquisola, Ambika Zutshi, Ruth Rentschler and Jon Billsberry
The purpose of this paper is to examine the mechanisms that explain the complexities Indonesian higher education (HE) academic leaders (ALs) experience in performing leadership…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine the mechanisms that explain the complexities Indonesian higher education (HE) academic leaders (ALs) experience in performing leadership roles. The research addresses the questions: How do Indonesian ALs perceive their roles in HE? What are the challenges facing Indonesian ALs in their roles in the Indonesian HE context? To what extent does gender impact how ALs act and are perceived?
Design/methodology/approach
In sum, 35 ALs from six Indonesian universities representing top executive positions were interviewed. Data were analysed thematically using a retroductive process followed by a series of on-site member-checking activities to establish credibility and authenticity of the findings.
Findings
The religious principles of amanah (the “altruistic calling” of their functions needing dedication, commitment, and passion) unique to the Indonesian cultural experience influence ALs views of leadership. ALs face role constraints due to resource limitations, experiencing a double bind, while harmonising differences due to ascribed social status and position.
Research limitations/implications
Supportive structures effective for academic leadership practice must be created, further studies on male ALs’ roles in promoting the leadership ascent of female ALs and promoting work-life balance will improve ALs’ visibility and salience in steering institutional growth.
Originality/value
This is the first study to focus a critical lens on the complexities of context-based leadership practice as it is influenced by amanah. Layers of constraints confronting female ALs were documented due to exigencies of gender role expectations and resource limitations, yet they exhibited paternal navigational skills beyond the maternal and pastoral calling of their roles.
Ruth Rentschler, Ayse Collins, Karen Williams and Fara Azmat
Understanding disabled people as gray-collar workers who are under-paid, under-valued and under-employed is recognized as in urgent need of attention but remains unaddressed…
Abstract
Understanding disabled people as gray-collar workers who are under-paid, under-valued and under-employed is recognized as in urgent need of attention but remains unaddressed. Based on 30 semi-structured interviews with disabled people, observations and document analysis, the authors argue that the disabled gray-collar workers in the performing arts provide a context and socio-cultural perspective on how gray-collar workers can attain dignity through social inclusion. Building on a novel framework of four dimensions of social inclusion theory – access, participation, representation and empowerment – the authors identify social interactions portrayed in the performing arts in order to deconstruct the processes that normalize and reinforce exclusion and inequality. The authors demonstrate how social inclusion can be “enabled” which has implications for theory, policy and practice.
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Jody Evans, Kerrie Bridson and Ruth Rentschler
While the body of work exploring brand orientation has grown, there has been a general failure to build on extant research and generate a holistic conceptualization of brand…
Abstract
Purpose
While the body of work exploring brand orientation has grown, there has been a general failure to build on extant research and generate a holistic conceptualization of brand orientation. This paper aims to develop a model of the key drivers, impediments and manifestations of brand orientation in a museum context.
Design/methodology/approach
A collective case study design was used, consisting of key informant interviews using a semi‐structured interview protocol and analysis of institutional documents and observational research. Interviews took place with well‐known museums across three countries: the UK, the USA and Australia. This paper demonstrates the richness of qualitative case studies as a method of theory building and as a precursor to further empirical research.
Findings
The case study findings reveal both a philosophical and behavioral aspect of brand orientation. Thus, six attributes are presented that include brand orientation as an organizational culture and compass for decision‐making and four brand behaviors (distinctiveness, functionality, augmentation and symbolism). The conceptual model also depicts the critical antecedents to brand orientation in a museum context.
Research limitations/implications
This study provides a foundation for future brand research by offering a holistic conceptualization of brand orientation and identifying the primary antecedents in a museum context. Future research may wish to empirically establish a valid and reliable scale of brand orientation and examine its explanatory potential. Future research may also consider other contexts to provide further insight into the drivers and inhibitors of brand orientation.
Practical implications
If organizations seek to establish a strong brand orientation they must devote resources to establishing the brand as a dominant organizational philosophy that guides decision‐making. In addition, brand‐oriented organizations must establish the brand as a distinctive asset that communicates relevance and accessibility and invest in augmenting initiatives that enable the organization to connect with customers on a personal and emotional level.
Originality/value
Using an exploratory method the authors are able to reconcile a number of approaches to brand orientation and provide a conceptualization that incorporates the philosophical and behavioral approaches to business orientations. Museums face substantial resource constraints, competing needs of multiple stakeholders and increasing market turbulence. If museums can achieve such significant organizational change then the sector presents an interesting exemplar for many other non‐profit organizations.
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Ruth Rentschler, Kerrie Bridson and Jody Evans
The purpose of this paper is to explore the adoption of major exhibitions, often called blockbusters, as a sub-branding strategy for art museums. Focusing the experience around…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to explore the adoption of major exhibitions, often called blockbusters, as a sub-branding strategy for art museums. Focusing the experience around one location but drawing on a wide data set for comparative purposes, the authors examine the blockbuster phenomenon as exhibition packages sourced from international institutions, based on an artist or collection of quality and significance. The authors answer the questions: what drives an art museum to adopt an exhibition sub-brand strategy that sees exhibitions become blockbusters? What are the characteristics of the blockbuster sub-brand?
Design/methodology/approach
Using extant literature, interviews and content analysis in a comparative case study format, this paper has three aims: first, to embed exhibitions within the marketing and branding literature; second, to identify the drivers of a blockbuster strategy; and third, to explore the key characteristics of blockbuster exhibitions.
Findings
The authors present a theoretical model of major exhibitions as a sub-brand. The drivers identified include the entrepreneurial characteristics of pro-activeness, innovation and risk-taking, while the four key characteristics of the blockbuster are celebrity; spectacle; inclusivity; and authenticity.
Practical implications
These exhibitions are used to augment a host art museum’s own collection for its stakeholders and differentiate it in the wider cultural marketplace. While art museum curators seek to develop quality exhibitions, sometimes they become blockbusters. While blockbusters are a household word, the terms is contested and the authors know little about them from a marketing perspective.
Social implications
Art museums are non-profit, social organisations that serve the community. Art museums therefore meet the needs of multiple stakeholders in a political environment with competing interests. The study draws on the experiences of a major regional art museum, examining the characteristics of exhibition sub-brands and the paradox of the sub-brand being used to differentiate the art museum. This paper fills a gap in both the arts marketing and broader marketing literature.
Originality/value
The use of the identified characteristics develops theory where the literature has been silent on the blockbuster sub-brand from a marketing perspective. It provides an exemplar for institutional learning on how to initiate and manage quality by popular exhibition strategies.
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Rajeev Kamineni and Ruth Rentschler
Despite almost 50% of the Indian population being women, there is a significant gap between the genders in movie production. Although there might be several reasons attributed to…
Abstract
Despite almost 50% of the Indian population being women, there is a significant gap between the genders in movie production. Although there might be several reasons attributed to the underrepresentation of women in the role of a movie entrepreneur, it is a fact that female movie entrepreneurs are few and far between. Most of the female movie producers in Indian movie industry tend to be spouses or children of leading male actors who have taken up the mantle to assist their husbands or fathers. This chapter, using interviews and life history analysis, examines reasons for low numbers of female entrepreneurs in the Indian movie industry, a domain that has largely been overlooked.
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Ruth Rentschler and Theresa A. Kirchner
This paper aims to present a quantitative analysis of arts management/marketing articles in leading general management/marketing journals, including an examination of the extent…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to present a quantitative analysis of arts management/marketing articles in leading general management/marketing journals, including an examination of the extent to which those top tier journal articles on arts/culture‐related topics cite authors of leading arts management journal articles.
Design/methodology/approach
Using bibliometric techniques, this study examines the content of 20 top tier management and marketing journals over 22 years to identify articles published on arts management/marketing, which authors were cited, and from which arts management/marketing journals.
Findings
Analysis indicates that: relatively few citations in the top management/marketing journals reference arts management/marketing journals; assessment of interaction between the parent management/marketing disciplines and the arts management/marketing sub‐discipline indicates that authors draw upon a large reserve of diverse literatures; and top journal arts‐related management/marketing articles tend to utilize citations to journal articles grounded in the social sciences and aesthetics of management, with an increasing trend of citations to arts management/marketing journals.
Research limitations/implications
This study of the extent to which top journals have published arts/culture‐related articles and the citation impact of arts management/marketing journals is the initial academic study on the topic and suggests opportunities for further research.
Practical implications
Analysis of arts management/marketing journal impact contributes to professionalization of the field and increased perceived value of those journals by industry practitioners.
Originality/value
This research is the first to examine the spectrum of arts management/marketing literature, including both top general management/marketing journals and sector‐oriented arts management/marketing journals, establishing a body of knowledge for augmentation by future research over time.