PSYCHOLOGICAL FACTORS AFFECTING VISITOR'S VISITATION DECISION OF MUSEUMS IN KEDAH

Abstract

Museums have been preserving and conserving thousands of artefacts that contributed to our generation current knowledge of the past. Kedah has 6 museums with different purposes and the most significant and profitable museum is the Muzium Padi. Despite having 6 museums scattered in the district, on an estimated 301,045 visitors were recorded in 2016. This depressing numbers could clearly show that the Kedah Museum Management faces problems in attracting visitors although efforts were said to have been made by them. Ringgits spent on attractive marketing promotions and events were not able to change people’s perspective of Kedah museums. Based on that fact as well as on observation, it is fair to say that museums in Kedah are unable to attract visitors because they failed to understand reasons behind decision making of museum visitation. The management holds a responsibility to understand that people engage in museum visits for different reasons or motives. In this study, psychological influence in visitation is examined and is defined into 6 different perspective. These perspectives include motivation, perception, lifestyle, learning, personality and value, belief and attitude. Understanding all these perspectives are the key factors in capturing visitor’s visitation. This research was done in the state of Kedah to find out what psychological perspective has an effect on visitor’s visitation decision. Findings showed that personality perspective is the most dominant and significance psychological that influence visitor’s visitation to museum.