Companies have been using various tools to enhance their brands, including advertising, public relations, or social media. While there are several studies on the influence of these tools on consumer behaviour, the research related to a museum and branding is limited.
For many decades, corporate museums have existed as business journey records and a source of company knowledge. Moreover, recent research found that company museums play a vital role as a brand enhancer. The museum's heritage linkage, corporate narrative, and visitor experience strengthen the brand's relationship with visitors. Consequently, the brand becomes a meaningful institution and gains deeper appreciation from the consumers.
This research extends the existing research by exploring how consumers' perception of brand authenticity is enhanced after visiting the corporate museum. The research adopts a qualitative case studies approach using the data from semi-structured interviews, participant observations, and archival documentation to thematically identify the museum attributes and experience, which influence the museum visitors' perception of brand authenticity. The study will compare the results from two different corporate museums-Jim Thompsons House Museum in Bangkok, Thailand and the World of Wedgwood, Stoke-on-Trent, UK. The former museum will represent the type of repository museum, while the latter will illustrate the type of strategic museum. These two museum categories are different in their functions, collections, and activities.
The study is expected to discover consumers' process of perceiving brand authenticity and whether/how the attributes of corporate museums influence their perceptions. The research finding will advance the theoretical understanding of corporate museums and brand authenticity concepts, showing the capacity of corporate museums and the construction of brand authenticity. Furthermore, the research provides managerial implications as brand managers will better understand the functions of the corporate museum. Then, they could manage the corporate museums more strategically.