Effects of COVID-19 pandemic on Digital Transformation in the Art Museum sector

This thesis looks at the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic in the Art Museum sector on the Washington, DC, USA region. Using existing literature to analyze the concept and process of Digital Transformation (DT) and the multitude of aspects that effect it, a Digital Transformation Force-Factor (DTF) model is built to understand how external forces and internal factors affect the outcomes of DT. The model’s internal factors are structured as: Organization, which comprises of Digital Transformation Strategy (DTS) and Digital Leadership; People, that includes Digital Maturity and Digital Culture; and lastly Technology, which is seen as Digital Innovation and Digitalization. The external forces are noted as Competition, which in the context of thesis looks at Digital Disruption; Force Majeure, that focuses on COVID-19 pandemic; and Technology, which is defined as Digital Innovation and Digitalization. The model aims to qualify the effects of each individual aspect and how they affect the outcome of the DT Process.

The research for the thesis was done through case studies of three art museums in the Washington, DC, USA area through interpretive interviews of sector experts, and results are analyzed with the help of the introduced theoretical model to understand the effects of pandemic. The results implied that the pandemic enabled or forced DT upon the museums in the case study. However, once museums began reopening, less emphasis was put on DT related efforts as operations slowly started shifting back to pre-pandemic modes. The results offer a snapshot of the sector’s current state in the Washington, DC, USA context, and are in line with existing research, and offer a springboard to further develop the DTF model as well as contribute to validate existing DT literature.