The financial structure influencing the performance of museums

The financial resources of a museum originate from two different sources: private and public. In the current economic climate, the amount of financial resources received from public sources, such as the government, has decreased, resulting in a necessary increase of the resources from private sources. Or in other words, the percentage of self-generated income of museums had to increase to compensate for the decrease of the public support. This requires a more market oriented attitude of museums; an orientation towards the needs of their public and donors. As a result of this development, the question arises whether this increase in the market orientation and the level of self-generated income influences the performance and behavior of museums. This study investigates the relation between the level of self-generated income and the performance of Dutch art museums. Due to the diversified character of the goals and activities of art museums, this research adopts a multidimensional measurement method using different perspectives of performance. Using multiple perspectives, it is investigated if the perspectives are related differently to the percentage of self-generated income. In this study, evidence is found of the existence of a relation between the performance of Dutch art museums and the percentage of self-generated income. This relationship differs among the different perspectives of performance. A positive correlation is found between the percentage of self-generated income and the perspectives focused on the public and the financial state of the museums, while a negative correlation is found between the percentage of self-generated income and the perspective concerned with the art collection and publications of a museum. These findings support the assumption that Dutch art museums with an increased market orientation are more focused on their public and on its financial health and less on the art collection.