From Dust to Data: On Data-driven Value Creation in the Public Museum Field. An Organizational Perspective with the National Museum of Denmark as a Case

Abstract

Public museums in Denmark face increasing competition as a result of a growing experience economy and technological developments, which results in new demands from the audience. In combination with decrease in public funding, the museums are in need of innovation. An innovative force that has been increasingly addressed in literature over recent years is Big Data. However, an overview of the literature to date indicates that public museums’ use of Big Data is poorly understood. Moreover, in spite of literature that illustrates Big Data’s many potentials, little is known about how organizations actually translate such potentials into value. The main purpose of this thesis is therefore to (1) examine how a data-driven approach to value creation can be understood in the context of public museums and (2) specify the organizational implications that are expected to follow from such an approach. Derived from theory and illustrated through the empirical case of the National Museum of Denmark, we conclude that public museums can generate economic and public value by means Big Data. Moreover, we point to organizational implications that such approach brings along and is influenced by.