The measurement of perceived service quality in museums: Example of private contemporary art museums in İstanbul

The objective of the present study was to measure visitors' perceptions of museum service quality by using MUSEQUAL scale in the contemporary art museums. The measurring was held in the five contemporary art museums located in Istanbul. Museum visitors' perceptions could be best explained by five service quality dimensions named as "tangibles", "communication", "empathy", "responsiveness" and "consumables". In the first chapter of the study, museum and museology concepts and contemporary art museums are introduced. In the second chapter, service quality and the concepts related to service quality are explained, and service quality in museums is emphasized. In the last chapter, the research and application part is presented. As a result of this study, it was found that the participants have the highest service quality perception on the tangibles dimension of the MUSEQUAL scale applied and the lowest service quality perception on the consumables dimension. The results indicate that the highest service quality perception is related to the museum cleanliness item. Other items where the participants' perception of quality is high are related to the appearance of staff and museum atmosphere, exhibition and maintenance of exhibitions. On the other hand, according to the participants' perceptions, the lowest service quality is related to car parking areas and seating areas in the museum. The following lowest service quality perceived by the participants are the items that are related to the good choice of souvenirs in the museum's shop and the good choice of food and beverage in the museum's cafe/restaurant, and the items related to the proper facilities for children and disabled people.