A museum out of date? Changes in organizational legitimacy - the case of the National Museum of Iceland 1980-2001

Bibliographic Data

ID5718268
AuthorsMargrét Hallgrímsdóttir (The National Museum of Iceland, Reykjavík, Iceland), Ómar H Kristmundsson (0009-0001-4362-8506, University of Iceland, corresponding author)
Year2021
Volume36
Issue5
Pages451-466
Publication date2021-09-03
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueMuseum Management and Curatorship (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0964-7775 • E-ISSN: 1872-9185
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/09647775.2020.1845970
OpenAlexW3107478995
LanguageEN
Citations received1
References cited18

The need for change has been the focus of museum policy in Europe, as well as in Iceland, since the latter part of the twentieth century. During the last two decades of the twentieth century, amendments were made accordingly to laws and regulations and the system of national heritage was restructured. The National Museum of Iceland, the principal museum in the period and the subject of the study, subsequently experienced radical changes. The article includes a narrative describing the events leading to the changes by focusing on its organizational legitimacy influenced by different groups of stakeholders, especially archaeologists, which became a growing and influential profession in the period. By debating its legitimacy, the stakeholders claimed the museum was out of date. The study shows the importance of legitimacy models to explain the dynamic interaction between professional public organizations and their relevant professions and how organizational change develops based on such interaction

Aesthetics · Archaeology · Art · Legitimacy · Library science · Literature · Narrative · National museum · Organizational change · Political science · Politics · Public relations · Sociology · Arts, Culture, and Music Studies · Cultural Industries and Urban Development · History · Law · Museums and Cultural Heritage · Public Administration

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