Abstract

The article presents a case study aiming at reconstructing the social impact of the digitalization policy promoted by the National Archaeological Museum of Naples. The main impacts detected include an higher cultural participation’s rate, thanks to an integrated strategy that enhanced the museum’s reputation; an improved social inclusion, thanks to the social networks’ strength of weak ties; finally, the digital policy stimulated reflection and created a sense of belonging thanks to a videogame arousing emotions. The results call for the development of an evaluation agenda for museums and other institutions willing to enhance the social impact of digitalization policies, and suggest the need to strengthen the empirical research for impact-oriented policy design in this field.