Abstract
Cultural sustainability is increasingly being perceived as a fourth dimension of sustainable development. So far, some studies have debated the way in which cultural sustainability can lead to economic, social, and environmental benefits, while others have highlighted how the classic pillars of sustainability can help museums to achieve their core cultural mission. However, empirical studies regarding cultural sustainability in museums are scarce. Thus, one of the aims of our research was to fill this gap by developing several econometric models that explain the influence of heritage exposure; environmental behavior; openness to the public; and effectiveness and performance in collecting, preserving, and researching the cultural heritage. A second aim was to advance the current knowledge in this field by creating an integrated frame that explains the interconnections between different variables that help museums become sustainable, as well as the place and role of cultural sustainability within the overall framework of sustainable development. To achieve these goals, an in-depth analysis of the literature was followed by a survey of 86 Romanian museums. The results show that the ability of museums to reach cultural sustainability is influenced by components of their social and economic performance, while environmental behavior proved to be insignificant.
Highlights
Sustainable development is increasingly seen as being composed of four dimensions; namely, economy, society, environment, and culture [1]
Cultural sustainability (CS) is the dependent variable (DV) and denotes the ability of museums to collect, preserve, and research the heritage; Effectiveness and performance (EP), Environmental behavior (EB), Openness to the public (OP), and HE are the four independent variables (IVs) that indicate a measure of effectiveness and performance (EP), environmental behavior (EB), openness to the public (OP), and heritage exposure (HE); R, V, and NW are the three control variables; β0 to β7 are the model coefficients; and ε is the error term added to show the inaccuracy of the model
This result is in line with a previous research conducted by Fanea-Ivanovici [10], who revealed that Romania has only 154,830 items included in Europeana, which places it in 24th position out of a total number of 44 providing countries
Summary
Sustainable development is increasingly seen as being composed of four dimensions; namely, economy, society, environment, and culture [1]. There are multiple reasons for adding culture to the traditional three-pillar construct of sustainability. In order to reach environmental responsibility, social justice, and economic development, a certain set of values and behaviors should be developed among individuals [3]. As a sustainable society depends on a sustainable culture, any action to achieve sustainable development goals must take into account the natural, social, and economic environment, and the cultural environment. If the culture of a society disintegrates, so will all its other components [2]. ‘culture is essential for a sustainable society to be possible’ [4]
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