A satisfactory visitor experience: dimensions and contextual components of Spanish museums

Abstract

Over the last 20 years, there has been a growing interest in the analysis of museum experiences. Different authors have approached this subject from various perspectives, but only a few have focused on the idea of satisfactory experiences. This study sheds light on this field of knowledge, exploring the factors involved in satisfactory museum experiences. It clarifies how subjective factors (experience dimensions) and the museum environment (contextual components) are related and play a role in shaping those visitor experiences. For this purpose, a quantitative methodology was selected. In 2019 a questionnaire was administered to a sample of 685 visitors to 16 Spanish museums, which confirmed that their museum experience was the result of their interaction with the museum, its characteristics, and its contents. The visitor experience was satisfactory when their interaction had an impact on some dimensions of their experience. This varied according to each visitor's profile and what they valued most. The results showed that, despite the subjective nature of the experience, museums play an essential role as facilitators of satisfactory experiences. They can modulate the role played by the various components of the museum context in their visits, depending on the profiles of their visitors and their orientation toward one type of experience or another.

Keywords

• museum experience
• visitor studies
• museum visitors
• satisfactory museum experience
• museums – Spain