Art Experience and Human Resources’ Perception

Management and art - do these two fit together? Is an investment into art "worthwhile" from a shareholder's point of view? Regardless of the answer to these questions, a number of inter­ national companies establish large art collections or offer related art programmes for their human resources, their clients or the general public in recent years. The size of these art col­ lections or the amount of funding available has in some cases reached a dimension, which from an economic point of view justifiably questions whether such a commitment or invest­ ment is at all advisable. This situation raises numerous more questions and problems, in par­ ticular concerning the direct or indirect benefits that can be expected from the arts in the cor­ porate environment, notwithstanding the methodological problem of measuring their success. Depending on the interests or perspectives involved, very different aspects are in the spotlight, e. g. art as a financial investment, as a public relations tool or as a tool in human resource de­ velopment. The author of this book concentrates primarily on the impact of art respectively art experience on human resources' general perception and their perceptual competence. In doing so she is breaking new ground in research, since until to date only very few studies have been con­ cemed with the questions above and with the particular subject of this doctoral thesis.