Museum and Theatre Networks in Italy: Determinants and Typology

Abstract

This study is about cooperation among cultural organizations and specifically among Italian museums and theatres. Thanks to a research carried out through multiple case studies, we defined a typology of cultural networks, comparing museum and theatrical networks. In order to define a typology we refer to different organisational variables, including: coordination mechanisms, size, centralisation and density. Then we studied the determinants of cultural networks and again we compared museum and theatrical networks. In order to understand the determinants we tested three different theories or explanations: 1) efficiency; 2) process theory and institutional theory and 3) resource complementarity. Results showed two very different forms of networks. The first one, defined as vertical network, centralised, formalised, scarcely connected, often motivated by surviving needs of each individual organisation and allowing members to obtain cost advantages and this is in effect the main reason for aggregation. The second one, the horizontal network, diffused only among theatres, motivated by the possibility of improving the system's quality and of innovating and exchanging resources.