A narrative approach to non-financial disclosure in museums

Regulatory developments increasingly mandate transparency and accountability for companies and non-profit organizations (NPOs), driving the growth of non-financial reporting initiatives. However, this phenomenon remains underexplored within the wide range of NPOs, particularly with regard to accountability definitions and practices. Cultural organizations, including museums, share these challenges, with sustainability reporting still lacking an in-depth analysis. Leveraging institutional theory, this paper delves into the operationalization of museums’ narratives in order to measure their level of commitment in terms of Environmental, Social, Governance and Cultural dimensions. Employing text analysis, we measure keyword utilization across four categories of museums (namely archeological museums, science museums, university museum systems and exhibition centers) contributing to museum management studies by highlighting the narratives used to legitimize and enhance transparency across different years of reporting and offering insights into evolving accountability practices.