Cultural institutions aim to measure their economic, social, and societal impacts. Economically, they examine jobs, spending multipliers, and place branding. Socially, impacts include education, well-being, and social cohesion, which are difficult to define and measure. Common methods to measure impacts include economic impact analysis, generic social outcomes frameworks, and hybrid social return on investment. New digital participation also presents challenges and opportunities for impact measurement.

1. Cultural statistics
to evidence societal and
economic impact
Dr. Trilce Navarrete and Jessica Jonker
Erasmus University Rotterdam
INCULTUM Data Workshop: measuring the impact of cultural tourism| 3 March 2022

2. In short
• Why measure beyond market economic value?
• Impacts
• Theory of Change
• Tools for museums (online)

3. The value of culture and heritage
• When politicians allocate funds towards culture, there are two ways to
communicate such support: (Goto, 2019, Bille et al., 2014)
• Economic reasoning: (binary) measure market economic value (growth)
• Contribution to the economy,
• Perceived positive externalities (multiplier effect ±5.5),
• Counteract free-rider behaviour,
• Reduce negative effects of cost structures.
• Cultural policy argument: (complex) measure socioeconomic value (welfare)
• Furthering excellence, innovation and access,
• Recognition and celebration of national, regional or local identity,
• Promotion of continuity,
• Furtherance of diversity.

4. The impact of culture and heritage
• Once funds are allocated, governments want to know the effect of the
policy. This is generally made through impact studies:
• Impact assessment is about analysing,
monitoring and managing the economic,
social, and environmental consequences of
interventions (positive/negative,
intended/unintended) (Florman, 2016).
• Impact is about bringing change.
• There are several types of impact.

5. Impacts
• Economic impact
• Direct (jobs) / Indirect (real state value) / Induced effects (increase spending)
• Criticism: overestimation of numbers
• Social impact
• Individual / social
• Criticism: boundaries hard to establish, mitigate through involvement of
stakeholders
• Societal impact
• Related to the creation of relevant and sustainable change
• As result of participation in art projects (participants)
• As effect on passive surroundings (random, include non-visitors)

6. Theory of change
• Helps to define long-term aims
• Develop a strategy
• Implementation through participatory
process
• Success depends on having clear
measures, rigorous analysis, autonomy
and flexibility.

7. Impact models
Florman, 2016

8. Policy documents
• Impact models for museums
2011 NL Museum Association 2013 EU Learning Museum 2015 UK Arts Council 2016 EU MAPSI

9. LEM, 2013

10. MAPSI
Overview of tools to evaluate projects
• Matrix: assess outcome and impact
• Outcome mapping: behavioural change
• Balanced score card
• Gap analysis: current and future state
• Benchmarking: comparison
• Performance prism: prioritize stakeholder
• Social return of investment (SROI)

11. LEM data selection
• a
LEM, 2013

12. Economic impacts
Contribution to the economy in the form of:
• Employment / unpaid labour
• Multiplier effect on income and sales / waste
• Attraction of tourists and investments / increase cost of living
• Place branding / Superstars
• Influence on real state markets and urban regeneration /
gentrification effect
• Values deriving from existence of a cultural service
LEM, 2013

13. Societal impact
• Social cohesion
• Innovation and creativity
• Education and audience development
• Wellbeing and health
• Sustainability
• Economic influences
• Political influences
• Communication and interactions
• Can be intermediate (short-term) or strategic
(long-term)
(MAPSI, 2016; Ateca-Amestoy, 2020)

14. LEM, 2013

15. Generic Social Outcomes (UK)

16. Museums are about learning
Visitors’ learning process categories of Generic Learning Outcomes

18. Personal development
Social cohesion
Community empowerment
(and self-determination)
Local image and identity
Imagination and vision
Health and well-being

20. Value through participation
Innovation
Cultural welfare
Sustainability
Social cohesion
New entrepreneurship models
Lifelong learning
Soft power
Local identity
Sacco, Ferilli and Tavano, 2017

21. The power of cultural participation (8)
Innovation
Cultural welfare
Sustainability
Social cohesion
New entrepreneurship models
Lifelong learning
Soft power
Local identity
Sacco, Ferilli and Tavano, 2017
Foster social mobilization and
awareness about social
consequence of individual
behaviors related to
environmentally critical
resources
How to link?
Cultural participation / Institute
Effectiveness of differentiated waste
recycling

22. The power of cultural participation (8)
Innovation
Cultural welfare
Sustainability
Social cohesion
New entrepreneurship models
Lifelong learning
Soft power
Local identity
Sacco, Ferilli and Tavano, 2017
Contribute to increase visibility,
improve reputation, influence
relations (regional, national,
international)
Political, economic and social
dimension
How to link?
Amateur classes
Educational services
Cultural and creative production

23. Measuring impacts summary
Economic impact
• Focus is on visitor and museum spending
• Main methods: Economic Impact Analysis and Contingent Valuation
• Risks: define boundaries of impact, more suitable for superstars
• Sources of data: secondary sources, surveys
Social impact
• Focus is on result of activity (outcome) not activity (output)
• Main methods: Generic Social Outcomes and Generic Learning Outcomes
• Risks: define desired social effect, individual subjective valuation, multi-value complexity
• Sources of data: surveys, secondary sources (indirect)

24. LEM measuring impacts
Hybrid Social Return of Investment
• Focus is on assigning monetary value to social benefit
• Main methods: Social Return of Investment
• Risks: find the right proxies, lack of comparable data
• Sources of data: financial proxies
Spillover effects
• Focus is on finding (unintended) causal relationships
• Main methods: Cause-effect relationships, action research
• Risks: establishing causal relation, finding proxies
• Sources of data: secondary, proxies

25. The Future
• What about the digital dimension?
• What is the ‘digital museum’?

26. Digital participation

27. Digital participation
There are other reasons and modalities of cultural participation

28. To close
Clearly, cultural heritage has an important role in society for social and
economic reasons.
The polyphonic benefits can only be capture when maintaining a
pluralistic perspective.
The digital variant may bring a few more challenges, as well as large
amounts of data.