The Globalization of the Art Market

Abstract

Background literature and market flow data show evidence of an increasingly global art market. In turn, the global art market, instead of being a single, defined entity appears to be made of various local and diverse art markets. These various markets are progressively converging and integrating thanks to logistic and communication circuits. Key actors and organizations in the art market (e.g. auction houses or leader-dealers) see managers and marketers increasingly encountering cultural diversity alongside with economic heterogeneity. This chapter takes into account the not-yet-conceptualized framework of the art market in cross-cultural context. In so doing the author specifically identifies divergences and convergences concerning consumer behavior and art goods in a global economy. The results support the notion that in the current art market cultural diversity influences consumer attitudes. Such evidence may have specific managerial implications for practitioners and may stimulate further empirical studies to enforce this theoretical claim.