The impact of edutainment on the perceived authenticity of museum visitor experience
(R2020-83579)

AUTHORS

Tanja Komarac, University of Zagreb, Faculty of Economics & Business; Durdana Ozretic-Dosen, University of Zagreb, Faculty of Economics & Business, Marketing Department; Vesna Zabkar, Faculty of Economics, University of Ljubljana

KEYWORDS

visitor experience; perceived authenticity; edutainment

ABSTRACT

This paper explores the relationship between edutainment and perceived authenticity in the context of tourist experience in museums. The aim is to understand how edutainment influences the three components of the perceived authenticity of museum visitor experience (the perceived authenticity of the museum, of the visitor, and of materials). A new modified and improved model includes two antecedents of perceived authenticity (edutainment and expectations), and one outcome, satisfaction. Edutainment is a higher order construct consisting of education, entertainment and interactivity. CFA and PLS-SEM methods were used for testing the hypotheses. The results demonstrate that hedonic expectations and edutainment positively influence the perceived authenticity of museum visitor experience (on all three components). Finally, all three components of perceived authenticity positively influence visitor satisfaction.