Digital transformation: a study of the actions taken by museums during the pandemic.

Abstract

The Covid-19 pandemic impacted the world economies. Among the most affected sectors is the service sector, with the tourism segment standing out. Museums, parks, theatres, and tourist monuments had a great challenge with the period of social detachment. Digital transformation was the way adopted by companies to connect with their audiences and, consequently, contribute to the different segments of the value chain such as accommodation, transport and leisure and recreation. Thus, the managers of tourist attractions bet on entrepreneurial actions supported by digital transformation to change the business model in the face of the new pandemic scenario. The literature is still scarce to explore these actions adopted by museums worldwide. Thus, the research aims to identify the actions related to digital transformation adopted by museums in Ouro Preto during the pandemic period and compare them with the actions adopted by other museums around the world.  Ouro Preto is a historical city of Brazil, conferred by Unesco. These museums are one of the main attractions of the city, whose economy is anchored in this segment of the service sector. This research comprises a Systematic Literature Review, using the PRISMA method. The literature served as a basis for the preparation of the protocol for collecting information from museums in Ouro Preto, guiding the comparative study of the actions practiced by them and compared with actions in the world. The study identifies the digital presence of museums on social platforms and verifies the reaction of these organisations to the pandemic.  The information was collected in 12 museums. The protocol was answered through secondary data published on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and digital platforms used by the museums. The results show differences between the strategies of Ouro Preto museums and other museums. It was observed that Ouro Preto museums adopted a more passive strategy when compared to the strategies adopted by other museums in the world. This result demonstrates the lack of an improvement agenda of adopting advanced technologies to increase the added value of museums.