Museums’ Economic Performance and Directors’ Recruitment Process: An Assessment of the Recent Policy Reform of the Italian Museum Sector

• Published date: 01 September 2023
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1177/00953997231180303
• Author: Angela S. Bergantino,Mario Intini,Ada Spiru
• Date: 01 September 2023
• Subject Matter: Articles

https://doi.org/10.1177/00953997231180303

Administration & Society

2023, Vol. 55(8) 1584 –1604

© The Author(s) 2023

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DOI: 10.1177/00953997231180303

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Article

Museums’ Economic

Performance and

Directors’ Recruitment

Process: An Assessment

of the Recent Policy

Reform of the Italian

Museum Sector

Angela S. Bergantino1, Mario Intini1, and

Ada Spiru1

Abstract

We study the economic effects of a reform of the national museum sector,

the so-called Franceschini Reform, implemented in 2015. The reform

introduced a new organization of the national museum system. One of the

most innovative instruments of the policy was the establishment of a different

method - an international call for applications - in the selection of directors

of major museums (museums of “national interest”). The article studies the

effects of this new recruitment policy on museum economic performance,

focusing on revenues. Using a difference-in-difference technique for the

years 2014 to 2017, we show that the new recruitment policy improved

the revenues of treated museums throughout Italy by a range between 17%

and 26%. We also find that the characteristics of the directors (age, field of

degree, and study abroad experience) play a role in explaining the increase

in revenue of these Institutions. We thus find evidence of significant benefits

1Department of Economics, Management and Business Law, University of Bari Aldo

Moro, Largo Abbazia S. Scolastica 53, Bari 70121, Italy

Corresponding Author:

Angela S. Bergantino, Department of Economics, Management and Business Law, Applied

Economics Laboratory, University of Bari Aldo Moro, Largo Abbazia S. Scolastica 53, Bari

70121, Italy.

Email: angelastefania.bergantino@uniba.it

1180303AAS0010.1177/00953997231180303Administration & SocietyBergantino et al.

research-article2023

Bergantino et al. 1585

of the policy. The new knowledge may be useful for improving museum and

cultural sector management policies.

Keywords

national museums, Franceschini Reform, director, economic policy analysis

Introduction

Museums are an essential element of the national economy, especially for

Italy. They contribute to enhancing knowledge and cultural heritage and are

a determinant factor of territorial development and strategic leverage for the

country’s economic and social growth. In 2018 more than 53 million people

visited a museum in Italy, generating revenues of 229 million euros (+81%

from 2013).

Extensive attention has been devoted to the determinants of museum rev-

enues in Italy, and the existing literature has fully recognized the role of

demand characteristics in determining museum attendance (Brida et al.,

2016; Ercolano et al., 2017, 2018; Parenti et al., 2020). However, the effects

of supply-side aspects, such as managerial characteristics, have not been

extensively studied. Zan et al. (2018) observed that in the Italian cultural sec-

tor, tasks that in the rest of the world are usually carried out by experts in

management are, instead, attributed to others. They also noted that regulatory

interventions in the cultural sector have not solved, so far, the recruitment

problems in the sector, although there has been some progress with the most

recent legislation. For example, positive results were found for the Paestum

Archaeological Park (an autonomous Italian museum), where management

autonomy has contributed positively to new human resource recruitment and

overall institutional performance (Manes-Rossi & Bisogno, 2020).

Other papers on Italian museums show that autonomous or outsourced

public museums perform best, while private museums perform better than

traditionally managed museums (Beretta et al., 2019; Bertacchini et al., 2018;

Guccio et al., 2020; Leva et al., 2019). Guccio et al. (2022) noted that infor-

mation and communication technologies (ICT) are generally associated with

better performance in Italian museums. Finally, Cellini et al. (2020) show

that a museum’s choices regarding service provision are influenced by the

choices of its neighbors. To the best of our knowledge, only Castellini et al.

(2019) attempted to study the characteristics of boards of directors. Using a

sample of 108 Italian cultural organizations, they mapped the level of diver-

sity among the business sectors of cultural institutions.