A theoretical model for cross-cultural web design

Abstract

People from different cultures use web interfaces in different ways; they hold different mental models for visual representations, navigation, interaction, and layouts, and have different communication patterns and expectations. In the context of globalisation, web developers and designers have to make adaptations to fit the needs of people from different cultures, but most previous research lacks an appropriate way to apply culture factors into the web development. It is noted that no single model can support all cross-cultural web communication but a new model is needed to bridge the gap and improve the limitations. Thus, in this paper, a thorough literature review is conducted to develop a theoretical cross-cultural model to facilitate effective communication (usability) for web design, in which the variable (cultural factors), the process of developing cross-cultural websites, and measurement criteria are identified, and two related testable hypotheses are generated. © 2009 Springer Berlin Heidelberg.