Understanding the Role of Service Convenience in Art Museum Marketing: An Exploratory Study

Attracting both tourists and local consumers, art museums are an important part of the U.S. hospitality and tourism industry. In light of rapidly increasing operating costs and decreasing funding, U.S. art museums have begun more market-oriented efforts to broaden their appeal and accessibility, thereby increasing awareness and visitation. These nonprofit organizations compete broadly with other leisure activities for consumers' discretionary time. Here, a recently developed model of service convenience is used as the theoretical framework for our exploration of important art museum services and components of service convenience. Four focus group discussions were conducted among art museum visitors. The findings suggest that various factors influence decision, access, and transaction convenience, which, in turn, influence the overall perceptions of service convenience. Hypotheses and a conceptual model are developed and discussed, along with future research directions.