The purpose of this study is to examine the necessity of leadership management for an effective operation of public performing arts center in the context of arts management. For this purpose, the study was conducted to determine the influence of CEO’s leadership, social responsibility, social capital and quality management activities on the financial performance of public performing arts theater in public performing arts theater related to culture and arts and to provide a strategic implication for a successful management of the performing arts theater.
To achieve the purpose of this study, a survey was conducted with the CEOs of public performing arts theaters nationwide by utilizing a structured survey paper. Based on the materials of the 98 CEOs who have responded to the survey with regards to the public performing arts theater, an empirical study was executed by utilizing SPSS 18.0K.
The result of this study is as follows: First, it was confirmed that servant leadership of public performing arts theater CEOs had significant effect on the quality management activities and it revealed that transformational leadership had positive effects on the financial performances of public performing arts theaters. In particular, it was verified that the effectiveness of leadership differed depending on the operators. In other words, in the case of public performing arts theaters directly operated by local governments or the central government, the leadership of public performing arts theaters did not influence the performance. However, in the case of public performing arts theaters which are operated by a professional management, transformational leadership did indeed indicate a positive influence on the performance of public performing arts theaters. Second, it was verified that social responsibility of public performing arts theater CEOs had a positive effect in the quality management activities and the performance of public performing arts theaters. Third, social capital of CEOs of public performing arts theaters confirmed to have positive influence on the quality management activities and performances of the public performing arts theaters. Lastly, the quality management activities of public performing arts theater CEOs were an extremely important element in the performance of public performing arts theaters.
The abovementioned results of the study revealed that the leadership of public performing arts theater CEOs was a crucial preceding element in enhancing the quality management activities and business performances. It was confirmed that when it comes to exercising the public performing arts theater CEO’s leadership, one had to play the role of an adviser to ensure that the potential competences of the individual members of organizations could display their fullest potentials, by paying attention to the interest of each individual, rather than using coercive measures such as making orders and controlling them. Moreover, the study demonstrated that a certain atmosphere of the organization had to be established by setting a long-term vision of the organization and clear objectives so that the members could have faith in the leader. In addition, the study indicated that social capital and social responsibility were necessary factors to the CEO of public performing arts theaters for effective operation. This indicates that social capital and social responsibility demonstrate the importance of various social activity abilities of CEOs with regards to the operation of performing arts theaters. Consequently, the study shows that for the enhancement of work efficiency among members of the organization, it is necessary for the CEO of public performing arts theaters to act as a specialist in administration so that by utilizing various information networks that include professionalism, planning ability, social responsibility and network, one could contribute to the business performances.
Based on such results, this study proposes the following suggestions:
First, in this study, the public performing arts theaters carry the characteristics of an art organization and considering such characteristics, it suggests that servant leadership and transformational leadership are necessary to the CEOs of public performing arts theaters. The CEO of public performing arts theaters, just like a CEO of an ordinary corporate, has to consider the traits of an organization that is in charge of creative works in the field of culture and arts. So, rather than instructions and control, an atmosphere in the organization has to be created so that the members of the organizations could freely attend to their work based on trust between the members and the leader.
Second, looking at the fact that the public performing arts theaters have to pursue two types of objectives, that are, profitability and the public interest, this study proposes that the social responsibility and social capital of the CEOs of public performing arts theaters are important roles of CEOs from the perspective that they pursue the public interest of public performing arts theaters. The CEOs of public performing arts theaters have to acknowledge the importance of public objectives of the public performing arts theaters and it is imperative for the CEOs to acknowledge the fact that achieving it is extremely essential in the enhancement of performance of the public performing arts theaters. In line with such, they have to acknowledge that the expansion of social capital by utilizing human network is a fundamental activity for profitability.
Third, it reveals that in public performing arts theaters, just like ordinary corporate, quality management activities are important. Quality management activities, as one of management activities in pursuit of effective customer satisfaction, have to be acknowledged for its importance in the fact that its basic target is for the public performing arts theaters to satisfy the desire for culture and arts among community citizens and furthermore, there is a need to apply it to the operation of public performing arts theaters.
Despite such implications mentioned above, the critical point of this study can be pointed out as below. First, the critical point in the application of leadership types that considers the characteristics of public performing arts theaters can be pointed out. Second, another critical point can be pointed at the fact that the study was carried out only on the CEOs of public performing arts theaters. Therefore, in future studies, there is a need to examine the relationship with the performances of public performing arts theaters based on leadership types considering the characteristics of culture and arts. Furthermore, there is a need to conduct a comprehensive study that includes not only the CEOs but also the members of the organizations.