Determinants of the Number of Artworks in Corporate Art Collections

Abstract

Corporations have different motivations for collecting art. This study extends the rationale for corporate art collecting to the determinants of the number of artworks in a collection. The authors use comprehensive data on corporations' art-related behaviours and attributes to investigate the relationship between these factors and the size of their collections using multivariate linear regression methodology. They find that corporations that are active in supporting art and communicating with society have significantly larger art collections than those that are not active. Contrary to conventional beliefs, corporations in the financial sector do not have significantly larger collections than corporations in others areas. This study provides empirical evidence indicating that corporations use art collections to respond to social/institutional pressures and communication needs.