Productivity of Public Theatres in the Times of COVID-19: The Example of Polish Theatres

Abstract

Purpose: Our article aims to analyze the changes in the productivity of cultural institutions during the Covid -2019 pandemic. We studied how much productivity has changed and saw which indicator was targeting the influx. The number of visitors in the theatre in a given year is taken as productivity. The research period is the years 2016-2020. We hypothesize that the productivity index in 2020 depended on most on the technology change. Design/Methodology/Approach: The proper study was focused on Polish Public Theatres. The verification of the assumptions was conducted through the Malmquist index -Total Factor Productivity. Findings: As a result of the research, it was found that the hypothesis was positively verified. The value of the Malmiqusita index shows significant changes in productivity between 2020-2019 and 2019-2016. In particular, the considerable increase of the technological progress index is worth noting. In 2020-2019, the annual change regarding this index was as high as 1208.8%, while the technical efficiency decreased to 13.9% and TFP was 168.2% -the highest level over the whole period considered. Practical implications: We noticed that for individual theaters, the productivity results were different. It means that not all of the theatres studied coped with the new conditions. Depending on the organization, the effects of using digital technologies may be different. This proves that each unit should be analyzed individually. Originality/value: These results seem to fully reflect the pandemic reality in which the technological factor was of crucial importance, an innovative research to describe the pandemic in the theatre sector.

The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on local government cultural institutions – the productivity of theatres

“…This is a continuation of our previous research (Gałecka and Smolny, 2021). The present study extends the previous one to include the number of theatres and the research period.…”

“…Literature on production in the performing arts is rare. There are several empirical studies related to the measurement of productivity (production technology and effi ciency) of the performing arts sector from both the production and cost-function perspectives (Baumol and Bowen, 1965;Throsby, 1977;Gapiński, 1980;1984;Zieba andNewman, 2007, Last andWetzel, 2010;Gałecka and Smolny, 2021). When researching the functioning of cultural institutions, one should consider organizational and economic effi ciency, which are the criteria for assessing the activities of the analyzed entity and/or its individual areas.…”