Exploring the determinants of customer satisfaction with cultural events: a statistical analysis of German Art Museums.

This paper focuses on visitors' satisfaction with the museum experience. Following the literature approach, visitors' overall satisfaction is addressed as sum of visitors' satisfaction with the core product (the exhibition itself) and the peripheral product (additional features and services). A survey was submitted to 400 individuals visiting different Art Museums in Berlin, asking them to rate satisfaction with different elements of their visit. Multivariate techniques such as regression were performed to analyse the data. Results show that both core and the peripheral product are indeed determinants of visitors' satisfaction, even if, due to the restricted sample size, they should be interpreted with caution. In the end, managerial implications are developed highlighting the central role of other variables of the marketing mix than the core product itself in order to adapt and differentiate the artistic production to the target audience.