Maria Gabriela Ladu

Analysing the factors influencing visitors’ satisfaction at a museum: the role of socio-demographic characteristics, motivations and visit experience

In recent years museums have become interested in significant modernization efforts within their administration by updating their managerial elements and principles. Consumers’ satisfaction in particular has been recognized as a key element in gaining an advantage over competitors. The objective of this paper is to use a representative sample of visitors to the G.A. Sanna National Museum of Archaeology in Sardinia, Italy, to identify the main determinants influencing their satisfaction. A probabilistic quantitative model is employed based on microeconomic foundations. The findings support the hypothesis that motivations, the actual experience at the museum and the length of the visit, as well as socio-demographic factors such as nationality, gender and education influence the overall level of satisfaction. This paper contributes to the literature on consumer satisfaction in museums and provides useful directions for museum management to explore.

Urban Quality of Life and Capabilities: An Experimental Study

This paper proposes a way to empirically measure the impact of capabilities and functionings on the individual perception of urban quality of life. Specifically, we investigate the role played by amenities (including social interactions) and disamenities for a sample of 508 resident population of the town of Alghero (Italy). The hypothesis postulates that – ceteris paribus – UQoL is a function of amenities and disamenities that are all converted in capabilities and functionings. Capabilities are measured by four variables: presence of green, blue amenities, crime and dirtiness of the streets. Functionings are measured by three variables: frequency with which green space and social interactions are enjoyed and sport activity. The analysis is performed in two steps. In the first step, we focus on investigating whether the perception of UQoL is affected by capabilities and/or functionings, while in the second step we study whether and to what extent the individual allocation of time in daily activities such as sleeping, childcare and recreational activities affects this perception. Among others findings indicate that not enjoying amenities or not interacting with friends at all is worse than a marginal increase of both types of amenities.

Is There Any Relationship between Energy and TFP? A Panel Cointegration Approach for Italian Regions

The aim of this work is to examine the long run relationship between total factor productivity (TFP) and energy consumption in Italy from 1996 to 2008 at a regional level. Differently from previous studies, TFP is employed as a measure of economic growth and therefore of technological change. Dynamic Panel estimation technique is used to investigate whether a connection between TFP and energy use exists and its direction. Results show a bidirectional causality for the Italian regions implying that those regions characterized by a higher TFP would invest more in research rather than in energy intensive activities, improving in that way the use of scarce resources and favoring a sustainable growth.

Evaluating the demand for cultural goods: just income and tastes do matter?

Cultural goods refer to a broad area, sometimes difficult to isolate.Amongst other cultural sites, museums can be regarded as a bundle ofcultural goods that play a relevant role as a repository of heritage roots,cultural diversity, education and able to exert several spill-over effects.However, little is still known on the determinants that affect the demandfor cultural goods. Based on a microeconomic theoretical framework, theobjective of this paper is to assess what factors influence the intensity ofattendance to a museum. This aim is pursued by applying a quantile regressionfor count data models, a la Machado and Santos Silva, to culturalconsumer data gathered at the end of the visit to an Italian NationalArchaeological Museum in 2011. On the one hand, the findingsindicate that economic factors and tastes may not be the only determinantsto affect demand for cultural goods, as the intrinsic characteristicsof cultural sites may be also a key factor that influences future attendance.On the other hand, results highlight that different consumer segmentsmay benefit from ad hoc policy strategies. Although, the empirical investigationis based on a specific museum, the paper offers an overalltheoretical framework that can be generalised to other cultural sites.