covid-19 institutional crisis and sustainable digital business model innovation within the arts and heritage sector

How does the UK publicly funded arts and heritage industry institutionally, strategically and digitally respond to the uncertainties of the Covid-19 pandemic crisis? And how can arts and heritage institutions be preserved through institutional work and business model innovation? This Ph.D study will investigate these questions, exploring what institutions do (or do not do) in building sustainable digital business models. It compromises three aims explored through the analytic of institutional theory; (i) to understand how cultural institutions accommodate and navigate the hybrid tensions between their traditional identity as institutions occupying a physical space and a new virtual digital space; (ii) to explore the nature of institutional leadership in transitioning within the Covid-19 pandemic institutional conditions; (iii) to identify multiple business model innovations in times of crisis cycles. The methodology adopts a multiple case study approach across a range of cultural institutions within the arts and heritage sector in Northern Ireland. As there has been no research carried out into this hostile environment and how such cultural institutions attempt to recover and 'bounce back' from the Covid-19 pandemic, the overall findings should be of great value regarding the changes institutions need to make for a more sustainable future. Key words: Institutional theory, institutional work, digital innovation, business model innovation, crisis cycles. 3 specific objectives of this Ph.D study to explore: 1.How cultural institutions accommodate and navigate the hybrid tensions between their traditional identity as institutions occupying a physical space and a new virtual digital spaces? 2)The nature of institutional leadership in transitioning within the Covid-19 pandemic institutional conditions and what they do (and don't do); 3)To identify and explore the role of multiple business model innovations in business crisis cycles within the arts and heritage sector. Literature Review This thesis draws mainly on institutional literature with support from spatial studies and museum and heritage studies. The study will be inter-disciplinary as well as international in nature. In addressing the research questions, the study overall will pursue a multimodal and discourse approach Phillips, Lawrence, Hardy, (2004) and comparative case study design (Yin, 2009) in publicly funded museums, galleries, orchestras libraries and associated bodies across Northern Ireland. Following a systematic literature review, theoretical sampling will form the basis of this study (Yin, 2009). In preparation for this theoretical sampling, I have identified a range of cultural institutions and sought letters of support from those institutions (Appendix 1). This thesis will use an interpretivist paradigm based on a social construction and process ontology. Interpretive methods are used in the study of institutional work (Lawrence, 2018; Zietsma & Lawrence, 2010), spatial studies (e.g. Lawrence & Dover, 2015; Siebert et al., 2017), and the creative industries (e.g. Siebert & Wilson, 2013; Tang, 2020) and an interpretivist perspective allows for understanding the meaning and process behind institutional change or stability, which is integral to the purpose of this thesis. This study will conduct semi-structured interviews with a range of institutional guardians/custodians, comprising top management teams, middle management and other stakeholders about their views, experiences and involvement. Case data will be collected via MS Teams or in person if Covid-19 restrictions are not in place. Data will be collected from social media sites looking at discourses between the B2B relations - i.e. the communications between the institutions and the various arts institutional associations.