Premium
Relationship value benefits of membership programs, heterogeneous stakeholders and museum impact beyond fees
Author(s) -
Ebbers Joris J.,
Leenders Mark A. A. M.,
Augustijn Jonathan J. E.
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
european management review
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.784
H-Index - 32
eISSN - 1740-4762
pISSN - 1740-4754
DOI - 10.1111/emre.12465
Subject(s) - prestige , popularity , value (mathematics) , stakeholder , marketing , public relations , sample (material) , business , sociology , psychology , political science , social psychology , computer science , philosophy , linguistics , chemistry , chromatography , machine learning
Abstract In times of decreasing public funding, cultural institutions such as museums increasingly develop new stakeholder management practices to build a different or more diversified support base. Recently, membership programs have especially been gaining popularity. In this paper, we adopt a relationship value approach to study the poorly understood behaviors of members that can benefit museums beyond membership fees. In particular, we focus on the extent to which membership level and the perceived prestige of the museum drive value co‐creation through prestige leveraging. We study this by using a sample of 430 members and non‐members of the Hermitage Museum in Amsterdam. We find that membership level is positively related with cross‐buying behavior at the museum store and restaurant, and recommending the museum. In addition, these value creating behaviors are mediated by members leveraging the museum's prestige in their social environment. In contrast, we find a negative relationship between membership level and recruiting new members into the program, which could be explained by status dilution effects.