Relationship value benefits of membership programs, heterogeneous stakeholders and museum impact beyond fees
研究了博物馆会员计划中会员等级和博物馆声望如何通过声望杠杆影响会员的交叉购买、推荐和招募新会员等价值共创行为，基于阿姆斯特丹埃尔米塔日博物馆430名会员和非会员样本。
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.