Cross-cultural user perceptions of website design and security: A commentary

• Leo Van Hove
• Department of Applied Economics, Vrije Universiteit Brussel (Free University of Brussels), Belgium

Received 30 May 2016, Accepted 30 May 2016, Available online 1 October 2016

Abstract

A 2013 article in Electronic Commerce Research and Applications (Cyr, 2013) claims to demonstrate that user perceptions of website design are not only driven by national culture but also by country-level economic and technological parameters. This comment shows that the studyrsquo;s hypotheses should have been rejected and that the proposed dual framework does not seem to provide value added. Moreover, the study data are ill-suited for its purposes. Because the author relies on data for websites that have been localized, user perceptions no longer accurately reflect between-country cultural differences.

Keywords

• Culture;
• Localization;
• Research design;
• Regression;
• Social capital;
• Trust;
• Website design

1. Introduction

In a recent article in this journal, Cyr (2013) analyzed how respondents in eight countries across four continents perceive a specific website. Specifically, the author examined how respondents rated the SonyStyle website on four design elements (Information Content, Information Design, Navigation Design, and Visual Design), as well as in terms of Website Trust and Transaction Security. The author hypothesized that user perceptions of the site depend not only on local culture (more in particular on the degree of Uncertainty Avoidance as measured by Hofstede), but also – and this is novel – on country Economic and Technological Conditions related to Fukuyamarsquo;s (1995)theory of institutional trust and social capital. The author reports that the studyrsquo;s results were “in general alignment with the hypotheses as stated. As such, expected user reactions relate to uncertainty avoidance, as well as to predictions based on trust and social capital” ( Cyr, 2013, p. 380).

This comment shows, first, that when interpreting the Tukey HSD pairwise country comparisons, the author pays insufficient attention to whether the direction of the significant differences is as predicted. I show that for this reason alone, the author should already have rejected the bulk of the hypotheses. Second, I point out that the use of linear regression analysis may be more appropriate in this case. My own regression results indicate that including both cultural as well as economic/technological parameters does not result in a better predictor or “a more nuanced view as to how users in a given country respond to website design features” (op. cit., p. 373). In particular, adding a “Fukuyama” variable does not seem to provide greater explanatory capability. Finally, I argue that the studyrsquo;s data are ill-suited to examine the hypotheses. Because the websites that are used in the study have been localized, user perceptions do not reflect between-country cultural differences to the fullest anymore.

In what follows, Section 2 first summarizes the studyrsquo;s approach and main findings. Sections 3, 4 ; 5 then explain, step by step, some of the weaknesses in the analysis. Section 6 concludes.

2. A dual framework of cross-country website design perceptions

Cyrrsquo;s (2013) starting point is that, whereas several studies have indicated that in an international context, user perceptions of website design depend on local culture, “there is no research that systematically examines the influence of economic and technological elements” (op. cit., p. 373). With respect to economic factors, the author points out that according to Fukuyama (1995), higher economic prosperity leads to a higher amount of social capital in a country, which in turn leads to higher trust in institutions such as the Internet. Concerning technological variables, the author argues that in countries with higher online connectivity and infrastructure, electronic adoption is higher, and so is trust.

Thus, the author expected that studying both sets of parameters together (cultural factors and economic/technological factors) will “contribute a more comprehensive and nuanced approach for how users experience e-commerce” ( Cyr, 2013, p. 374). Where culture is concerned, the article

剩余内容已隐藏，支付完成后下载完整资料

跨文化的用户对网站设计和安全:一个评论

文摘：

2013年的一篇文章在电子商务研究与应用(认同2013)声称证明用户对网站设计不仅是由民族文化也通过国家级经济技术参数。这样的评论表明,研究的假设应该被拒绝,提出双重框架似乎并没有提供附加价值。此外,研究其目标的数据是不合适的。因为作者依靠数据对于已本地化的网站,用户感知不再准确反映国家文化差异。

关键字：

文化;

本地化;

研究设计;

回归;

社会资本;

信任;

网站设计

介绍：

在本杂志最近的一篇文章,希尔(2013)分析了受访者在四大洲八个国家如何看待一个特定的网站。具体来说,作者考察了受访者评为SonyStyle网站如何在四个设计元素(信息内容、信息设计、导航设计和视觉设计),以及网站的信任和交易安全。作者假设用户对网站的看法不仅取决于当地文化(特别是在不确定性规避程度以霍夫斯泰德),而且——这是小说——国家经济和技术条件与福山的(1995)制度信任和社会资本理论。作者报告说,该研究的结果是“总体上符合规定的假设。因此,预期的用户反应与不确定性规避,以及预测基于信任和社会资本”(希尔,2013年,p . 2013)。

这个评论显示,首先,当解释图基HSD成对国家比较,作者充分关注是否显著差异的方向预测。我表明,仅就这一点而言,作者应该已经拒绝了大部分的假设。其次,我指出,使用线性回归分析在这种情况下可能更合适。我自己的回归结果表明,包括文化和经济/技术参数不会导致一个更好的预测或“一个更微妙的角度来看用户在一个给定的国家如何应对网站设计功能”。特别是,添加一个“福山”变量似乎并没有提供更多的解释能力。最后,我认为,该研究的数据是不适合研究假设。因为使用的网站研究已本地化,用户认知不充分反映国家文化差异了。接下来,第二部分首先总结了研究的方法和主要结果。部分3,4,5然后解释,一步一步,一些弱点的分析。第六节总结道。

双框架越野网站设计的看法

Cyrrsquo;s (2013) 的起点,而一些研究已经表明,在国际背景下,用户对网站设计的看法取决于当地文化,“毫无研究,系统地探讨了经济和技术因素的影响”。对经济因素,作者指出,根据福山(1995),更高的经济繁荣导致更高的社会资本在一个国家,这反过来会导致更高的信任互联网等机构。有关技术变量,作者认为在网络连通性和较高的国家基础设施,电子采用较高,所以是可信的。

因此,笔者认为研究两组参数一起(文化因素和经济/技术因素)将“贡献更全面和细致的方法对用户体验电子商务”(希尔,2013年,p . 2013)。在文化方面,本文集中于不确定性规避,以霍夫斯泰德(1980),因为这种文化维度是有待研究的研究尤其是有关的目的(如还调查网站信任和感知交易安全)。

至关重要的是,作者预测,根据其水平,经济/技术变量将增强或中度用户仅根据文化观念。例如,霍夫斯泰德的研究表明,用户从高不确定性规避文化会发现信息Content1更重要, 因此,其他条件不变,不利于评价这个网站设计元素。同时,因此,作者认为,基于福山的信任和社会资本理论,“用户将更容易接受网站设计元素在更高的信任国家,如在美国,蒙古包,日本,并能有更高水平的社会资本和增强的连接和基础设施在国家,情况并非如此,如在印第安纳州,墨西哥人,气,和中文”。这两个的组合关系然后导致这一假说的感知信息内容:

低不确定性规避用户高信任国家将提供信息内容的最高评级高不确定性规避用户低信任国家,与各国中混合不确定性规避,高或低信任得分在中间。

其他三个网站设计元素的假设(信息设计、导航设计和视觉设计)和对网站的信任和交易安全,完全类似。简而言之,基于不确定性规避的国家分数一方面和信任和社会资本(第2列和第3列),作者预计,在表格的最后一列1 -美国和能得分高(H)为所有6个变量,墨西哥人,气分数低(左),和其余国家分数中档(M)。

剩余内容已隐藏，支付完成后下载完整资料

资料编号：[26443]，资料为PDF文档或Word文档，PDF文档可免费转换为Word