Marketing Strategies for Modern Museums

Museums in Thailand increasingly need to strengthen sustainability by aligning internal management capabilities with digital-era visitor expectations and a competitive cultural tourism environment. Drawing on the Resource-Based View (RBV), this study examines the relationships among museum management, technology, marketing communication (MC), and visiting experience (VE). Survey data were collected from directors or senior managers of five-hundred museums drawn from a national population of 1,294 museums in Thailand. The measurement model was validated using second-order confirmatory factor analysis (S-CFA), followed by structural equation modeling (SEM) with maximum likelihood estimation. After theory-guided refinement, the final SEM demonstrated satisfactory fit (minimum discrepancy probability [CMIN-p] = 0.085; minimum discrepancy divided by degrees of freedom [CMIN/DF] = 1.138; goodness-of-fit index [GFI] = 0.961; root mean square error of approximation [RMSEA] = 0.017). This study contributes evidence from Thailand’s museum sector by integrating management, technology, and communication capabilities within an RBV-based SEM framework. The results identify museum management as a foundational capability positively associated with MC, technology, and managerial assessments of VE. MC was also positively associated with managerial assessments of VE and with technology, indicating close alignment between communication capability and technological infrastructure. Accordingly, the findings reflect managerial assessments rather than direct visitor evaluations. Overall, internal management appears centrally associated with managers’ assessments of experience-supporting practices, while MC is positively associated with managerial assessments of audience-related outcomes in Thai museums. From an inclusive museum perspective, the findings further suggest that management, communication, and technology should be developed not only to increase visibility but also to support accessibility, broader participation, and more meaningful experiences for diverse audiences.