Reinterpreting museums’ intended experience during the COVID-19 pandemic: insights from Italian University Museums

This paper explores whether and how University Museums reinterpreted their intended experience during the COVID-19 pandemic shock. To this end, theoretical insights from the service management literature are used. Adopting an interpretative approach, this paper relies on legislative documents and a survey of Italian University Museums during the COVID-19 lockdown. Results highlight how digital technologies enabled Italian University Museums to design service offerings and value cocreation practices. Particularly, digital technologies have led Italian University Museums, as experience-centric service organisations, to reinterpret their intended experience. This research sheds light on how museums can adapt their traditional interpretation of design areas by redefining content and the interaction with their visitors through digital technologies, ultimately building a virtual interpretation of their intended experience. This allows building a conceptual model that emphasises the differentiation between synchronous (online) and asynchronous (offline) value co-creation practices. Finally, this paper adds practical insights for managing museums’ co-creation practices virtually.