شناخت تجربه خدمات در هنرهای نمایشی غیرانتفاعی: مفاهیمی برای مدیریت خدمات و عملیات

Recent research in the non-profit performing arts has shown that marketing efforts designed to increase revenue from ticket sales are not achieving the results required to sustain the performing arts. This paper applies operations management analytical techniques to the non-profit performing arts to increase understanding of operational issues and inform service management strategy. The paper takes a two-study idiographic approach. Implementing a modified version of service transaction analysis (STA), Study One describes a performing arts service from provider and customer perspectives, identifies service gaps and develops an elaborated service description incorporating both perspectives. In Study Two, building on the elaborated service description and extant research, in-depth interviews are conducted to gather thick descriptions of predictors of satisfaction, value and service quality as they relate to repurchase intention (RI). Technical, functional and critical factors required to improve organizational performance are identified. Implications for operational strategy, service design and service management theory for this context are discussed.

Decreased government financial support and increased competition for donors, grants and sponsor support (Sullivan Mort et al., 2003) have increased the pressure on cultural arts organizations to raise funds from ticket sales to improve financial returns on show performances. Rentschler et al. (2002) suggest the primary objectives of cultural arts organizations must focus on audience development and increased ticket sales to achieve improved profitability and performance. It is evident however, that past and present marketing efforts focusing on subscriptions, venue management and attendance are not meeting organizational profit performance objectives and new strategies need to be identified (Cutts and Drozd, 1995 and Rentschler et al., 2002). Recent studies have profiled performing arts audiences and attendance motivations (Bouder-Pailler, 1999 and Cuadrado and Molla, 2000) but these studies have focused primarily on social hedonism, intellectual enrichment, and arousal of emotions more relevant to the highly involved committed arts consumer (Broderick and Mueller, 1999), the culturally elite and experiential consumption. Highly involved arts consumers fall into two categories of involvement. The first are those who have an enduring level of personal relevance to the performing arts. These patrons are committed and attached (Jain and Srinivasan, 1990 and Broderick and Mueller, 1999) to the performing arts. The second are those with a high level of hedonic involvement. These patrons are emotionally attached and demonstrate a strong need for emotional attainment (Laurent and Kapferer, 1985 and Broderick and Mueller, 1999). As competition for patronage in the leisure and entertainment sector intensifies, the cultural arts might be threatened if it operates solely in these narrow elitist artistic and cultural domains. The cultural arts must adopt a broader market definition of potential consumers to compete for the same entertainment dollar as sport, movies, cuisine and other entertainment pursuits. Arts organizations no longer can define their service offering based solely on the subjective motivations of culturally aware theatre buffs and loyal arts enthusiasts (Cuadrado and Molla, 2000). They must understand how a broader market derives satisfaction and value and decides to re-consume. When this is understood, organizations can design and deliver a service offering which will assist in increasing performance through re-consumption.

This research has advanced operations research in the area of non-profit performing arts in a number of ways. The first contribution lies in the development of an extended and modified STA analysis, verifying its applicability and usefulness in this sector. Using the technique, the second contribution lies in the identification of an important mismatch between non-profits performing arts managers’ perceptions and design of performing arts offerings, and the experience of their customers with these offerings, highlighting gap one service incidence. Customers identified the complete experience as including pre- and post-performance aspects as well as the core show performance experience, whereas arts managers did not. Thus, this research highlighted that current service design is prematurely truncated. Consequently, there is a deleterious impact on other strategic areas such as promotion, positioning, targeting and overall ability to meet customers’ needs.